Report shows emergency responders had record year for incidents amid global pandemic response
Coaldale & District Emergency Services (CDES) released their 2020 Year-End Report featuring several milestones achieved throughout the year. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, CDES was able to carry out its operations without any degradation to the level of service provided.
Additional accomplishments from the report include:
• Attended to a record number of incidents – 466 in total, of which 273 were medical, and 193 were fire incidents
• Saw an 11% increase in calls from 2019
• Responded to 36% more calls in 2020 December calls than in December 2019 (39 in 2019, 53 in 2020)
• Put in 3504 firefighter hours on emergency incidents
• Completed 4257 hours of firefighter training
• Completed 142 drive-bys in Operation Celebration
• Substantially completed Phase 1 of CDES Fire Hall renovations
• Launched a firefighter mental health program to support career and volunteer firefighters
• Introduced a tax credit for volunteer firefighters and local businesses
“We were able to swiftly adjust our operations and training procedures during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure the continued delivery of high service levels to the community,” said Coaldale Fire Chief Kevin McKeown. “Although 2020 was challenging for our department, there are a lot of successes we can be proud of.”
Most notably, CDES is pleased to share that their Public Fire Protection Classification (PFPC) for commercial, industrial, institutional and multi-family residential properties improved from PFPC 6 to PFPC 5 based on the Fire Underwriters Survey (FUS) assessment. The FUS assessment analyzes the fire response capabilities to commercial, industrial, and residential fire risks. The PFPC scale ranges from 1 (best) to 10 (no protection).
“This is significant for our business community because insurers use these gradings to determine fire insurance premiums, so our local commercial and industrial businesses may benefit from lower fire insurance rates in the future,” said McKeown. “The improvement from a 6 to a 5 on the grading scale is a testament to our dedicated team and firefighting capacity.”