Williams Lake director of protective services said it has been a busy year so far for the city’s fire department and bylaw services.
During the regular council meeting Tuesday, Sept. 12, Evan Dean told city council in the first eight months of 2023, the fire department received 296 calls for service and bylaws services received 317 calls.
The number of fire calls were up from 285 for the same time period in 2022.
Dean submitted a written report in advance of the meeting, but also gave council a verbal one.
“The bulk of those [fire] calls have been alarm calls and burning complaints, obviously because there were bans in place,” Dean said.
Calls included wildland and interface, 21, vehicle fire, 10, structure fire, 17, rescue, two, assisting agencies, seven, vehicle accident, 53, miscellaneous fire, 30, hydro lines, nine, Hazmat, one, alarm calls, 94, explosion, one and complaints, 44.
Dean said the fire department has maintained 40 paid-on-call firefighters and even had two retired members return.
“This is in stark contrast to the industry-wide trend, as volunteerism nationally is in significant decline,” Dean noted in his report. “As always, the dedication of the paid on-call members cannot be understated.”
Recently, the department has implemented the BC Fire fighter Occupational Awareness Training program and members were doing a half-hour module at Tuesday evening’s regular practice, he said.
“It is an upstream mental health focused program for professional and paid-on-call firefighters.”
He expressed gratitude for the training officer bringing in the program.
During this year’s wildfire season, some members of the department and apparatus were deployed to communities across the province including Townsend Creek Fire west of Quesnel, Dawson Creek and Tumbler Ridge Fire, Eagle Bluff Fire near Osoyoos, Merritt Mill Fire and the McDougall Creek Fire in West Kelowna and Lake Country. They contributed 1,292 hours of service to the BC Wildfire Service effort.
“These deployments not only improve our local experience level, which is a huge boost to our regional response capabilities, this is also an excellent opportunity for the city of Williams Lake and WLFD to support other communities in their time of need,” Dean noted.
Dean said the department has received lots of compliments for the professionalism of the crews that were deployed.
While the number of protective service calls were down compared to 2022 when there were 344 for the same time period, Dean told council the numbers are slightly skewed because of the time spent on homelessness pulled bylaw staff away from other calls.
Calls regarding homelessness can range from unsightly concerns of someone squatting, mental health issues, working with First Nations or other organizations to mitigate a concern, and not necessarily a homeless complaint, he explained.
Protective services calls included homelessness, 35, miscellaneous, 19, building, six, derelict buildings, five, zoning, two, watering or sprinkling violations, seven, business licensing, two, noise, 14, animal control, impounded dogs, 24, animal control aggressive dogs, 13, animal control at large, 12, animal control licensing, 12, animal control barking, 36, garbage and recycling, five, unsightly property maintenance, 48, snow and ice, 18 and parking or traffic, 51.
The city continues to improve the area’s fire resiliency and to that end more than 50 FireSmart home assessments have been done.
There is a grant in place to do 100, Dean said, noting the fire department is also working with School District 27 to assess all schools.
READ MORE: Williams Lake fire department food drive July 25 collects for local food bank
READ MORE: RCMP, fire department contain, extinguish wildfire in Williams Lake Sept. 10
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