Dauphin’s fire chief has given an update on the department’s activity in the first half of 2020.
In the first six months of the year, the Dauphin Fire Department (DFD) responded to 72 emergency incidents — compared to 109 during the same period last year.
That’s a 34% decrease in emergency response calls — something Fire Chief Cam Abrey says is the lowest number of incidents (for the first half of a year) in well over 10 years.
“A lot of those calls that we are still responding to are motor vehicle incidents. That seems to be our largest response area, out of the total.”
(Graph courtesy of the Fire Chief's 2020 First Half Year Report to Council)
Despite the cancellation of festivals and summer events that typically bring more traffic to town — Dauphin's fire chief says there’s been an increase in motor vehicle collisions compared to the same time period last year— and he’s not exactly sure why.
“We really did suspect that with the COVID restrictions and people at home from work and school — that we may have seen an increase in kitchen fires. We actually saw a decrease in kitchen fires in that six-month timeframe.”
Training
While some rural fire department elected to postpone firefighter training during the COVID situation, the DFD took a different approach.
Abrey says the department decided to continue their firefighter training, by reducing group sizes and increasing classroom sanitization.
“We’re firm believers that the training is protecting not only the citizens we serve, but the firefighters themselves. These are all skills that if you don’t use it, you can lose it, so we want to stay on top of our game.”
Fitness
It appears the Dauphin Fire Department has embraced a greater focus on physical health and mental wellness, by shifting to healthier meal alternatives, and committing to regular fitness training.
When fitness centres closed in Manitoba at the beginning of the pandemic, Dauphin firefighters pooled together some workout equipment at the station, gathering in groups of 10 for their FireFit training regiment.
“Not only are we training to serve the citizens, but we’re also training to protect ourselves health-wise too. The better that you can be physically, helps with the mental wellness of everybody — which we know during the COVID — is something everybody is struggling with.”
