The Port Alberni Fire Department received a record number of emergency calls this past year.
Fire Chief Mike Owens said this past summer’s heat dome, drove up fire calls.
“During the heat dome we received 53 calls just in that short period, then on the heels of that we saw 18 brush and wildfires, so certainly all these things culminate in an ibcrease in call volume for our department,” he said.
Overall, calls were up 55% to almost 2000, and structure fires were up 53% to an all time high of 50.
Owens said medical first responder calls more than doubled over the previous year, much of those related to the overdose crisis.
“We were certainly seeing a significant number of calls for overdoses,” he said. “Fortunately our crews have been able to respond to those expeditiosly and were able to have a positive effect on a number of those calls.”
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