Ottawa Fire Chief Brian Bressner says the number of fire calls was down just a little last year. But the number of medic calls went up by more. It keeps the personnel too busy to train sometimes.
There were 5,621 vehicle responses spanning 678 fire calls and 3,443 medical calls. One call requiring a fire truck and an ambulance is logged as two reponses. Things everyone can do to minimize the fire department’s load include fire prevention and knowing when the fire or carbon monoxide alarm is signaling a serious problem and when it just needs a new battery.
There were three deaths because of fires in Ottawa last year, and Bressner wants to get that number to zero. He recommends everyone have a working smoke detector. Contact the fire department if you don’t have one. Be especially careful cooking. Bressner says that’s the big problem lately.
Fire damage is estimated to have cost nearly $1.6 million in Ottawa last year. About two-thirds of that was to homes and apartments at $1,136,600. There was $393,950 in losses to contents and $62,500 to vehicles that caught fire.