Town of Battleford Fire Chief Larry Gabruch, centre left, at council's meeting Monday. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Trying to reduce false alarms

Town fire chief gives update on year-end numbers

Jan 10, 2023 | 5:23 PM

Town of Battleford Fire Chief Larry Gabruch presented the 2022 annual report for the fire department at this week’s town council meeting.

To help reduce the number of false alarms, the fire department has implemented a new procedure.

“We have initiated a new policy with our dispatch agency as of about 30 days ago,” Gabruch said. “What we have convinced them to do is notify myself and one of my deputies upon receiving an automated alarm, and hold that call until the alarm company has made an effort to contact the key holder.”

However, he said if the alarm system indicates the homeowner has triggered the alarm themselves, the fire department would be dispatched immediately.

Gabruch said the fire department has saved about four calls so far since initiating the new policy.

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“It’s a similar policy to what the RCMP have,” he said. “They won’t roll to an automated alarm until an alarm company has endeavored to contact the key holder, because 99 per cent of the time it is a false alarm.”

Gabruch said there will also be a financial savings as well, as it will cut back on the time the fire department goes out to false alarms.

“It will probably save our department $10,000 a year, if I estimate, it going forward,” he said.

The fire department has 24 firefighters in total including two female members.

Looking at the stats for 2022, the fire department was dispatched to 21 false alarms in the town, which is about on par with the 10-year average. In the Rural Municipality (R.M.) of Battle River, which the fire department also covers, the department was dispatched to seven false alarms in 2022, close to the 10-year average.

For the total calls for service in 2022, for the town of Battleford community, the fire department responded to 70 calls, slightly above the 2021 total, but well below the 2018 tally of 86. Looking at fatalities, unfortunately there was one fire fatality in 2022 in the town, the only fatal in the previous 10 years. The town did not have any vehicle fatalities in 2022.

For the R.M. of Battle River, firefighters responded to 35 calls in total in 2022, lower than the 2021 tally. The report shows one vehicle fatality in 2022. Gabruch said unfortunately the victim suffered a heart attack. The R.M. didn’t have any fire fatalities in 2022 or the prior 10 years.

On the new false alarm policy, Coun. Doug Laing said it’s good to hear it has been implemented.

“Cost-wise, it’s great news,” he said.

He added it’s also good to see the number of grass fires in the R.M. was significantly down in 2022, with only four reports, compared to 10 in 2021. That’s also well below the 10-year average.

Gabruch commended the citizens of the R.M. of Battle River for being “very responsible,” both on their acreages and farmlands, to help keep the grass fire numbers down.

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angela.brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW