麻豆视频

It was an eventful evening for Battleford Fire Chief Larry Gabruch last Monday.

Gabruch presented the annual report for the Battleford fire department to town council, complete with numbers from 2020.

Later that night, Gabruch and his department were hard at work fighting a massive blaze that destroyed the car wash at Battleford Esso. There were 20 firefighters on the scene battling the blaze during the overnight hours, with damage estimated into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Highlights of Gabruch鈥檚 annual report include the following:

Calls for service in 2020 to the department numbered 50 for the town of Battleford, which is below the 10-year average of 57.6. False alarms saw a noticeable drop from previous years. There were 14 false alarms in 2020, well below the 10-year average of 20.3 per year.

Most categories were in line with the 10-year average, but there were two vehicle fatalities, which 鈥渋s obviously not a good thing,鈥� said Gabruch.

In the RM of Battle River, Gabruch reported the Battleford Fire Department had 47 calls for service, which is well above the 10-year average of 30.4.

The main difference was the number of motor vehicle accidents. A total of 20 calls in the RM were vehicle accident responses, well above the 10-year average of 8.8.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not really surprising we have that quantity of accidents given the amount of highways that we provide coverage for,鈥� Gabruch said. In the department鈥檚 coverage area are Highways 4, 16, 29 and 40.

The total response overall was 97 calls for service, which is nine above the 10-year average.

Overall, it was a 鈥減retty average year, which is a good thing in our business,鈥� said Gabruch.

Council was also satisfied with the numbers in the report. Councillor Kevin Russell asked if the department had noticed an increase in needle pickups, and Gabruch said there had. He said they are noticing needles generally on the perimeters of the community, not near schools. They were not attributed to any one civic location.

Councillor Doug Laing mentioned the amount of training the fire department members had been receiving during COVID-19 and the steps taken to 鈥済et in the required amount of training and keep everyone safe,鈥� he said.

Gabruch said the department holds two practices a week, and has various protocols in place for responding to calls. There is also a strict protocol to log members in and out, and the fire hall is locked down to all public and firefighters鈥� families as well to 鈥渟hrink the bubble as much as we possibly can.鈥�

Gabruch did note they had one member in isolation right now, but apart from that he indicated they have avoided an outbreak within the department.

鈥淪o far so good. We鈥檒l just keep our fingers crossed that we can fend off any seepage of the virus into our department with the existing protocols we have in place.鈥�