NORTH BATTLEFORD ‑‑ An active year in 2021 for the North Battleford Fire Department has unfortunately continued into 2022.
The fire department is coming off a response to a massive fire on the 1400 block of 102nd Street on Jan. 3.
That ushered in the new year on a sour note, and follows up on what was a too-busy 2021.
According to the final report for the year from Director of Protective Services/ Fire Chief Lindsay Holm presented to council’s regular meeting Monday, there were 19 residential structure fires in 2021, up one from 2020. There were also five commercial fires (up from zero) and 11 vehicle fires (up from 10).
In December alone, Holm told council, there had been three structure fires, as well as two vehicle fires and six vehicle collision calls.
Holm also noted there was a large increase in fire prevention activities, with 617 reported for 2021 compared to 319 in 2020.
The reason, Holm said, was “because we are back out into the community actively doing inspections, so we brought our numbers up considerably.” Annual fire inspections were siginificantly up, from 162 to 302.
The ongoing COVID-19 situation, which could potentially impact staffing at the fire hall if people are out sick, is one the fire department plans to keep an eye on.
“We want to make sure our members are not being unnecessarily exposed,” said Holm. If they do shut down their inspections again, it will be primarily due to COVID-19, he said.
Concerns about fires in the city loomed large at Monday’s council meeting, and not only because of the most recent structure fire on 102nd Street.
It was also learned that the city’s Director of City Operations Stewart Schafer and his family were recently displaced by a structure fire at their own residence. Mayor David Gillan offered his condolences to Schafer at the meeting.
At the close of Monday's meeting Gillan expressed his verbal thanks to all the first responders for their response to the102nd Street fire, following on his written statement issued last week. That included the fire departments from the City, the Town of Battleford and RM of North Battleford.
“They all came together, at a late hour, cold temperatures, to try and help those poor people who were in a very serious situation — some even on their balconies looking for help to get out of the building.”
He also thanked the private citizens who “braved those elements as well” to help those residents and the firefighters to “address such a tragic situation.”
