Fire Chief McKeown comments on transition to centralized dispatch for AHS EMS
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Coaldale & District Emergency Services (CDES) released their 2021 Quarter 3 Report featuring several milestones achieved throughout the year current to September. The report shows a high call volume so far this year this year to date and highlights a number of achievements made by the department.
CDES has attended a total of 385 calls and is on track to surpass 500 by the end of 2021, making it another record-breaking year. Of these calls, 252 were responded to in Coaldale and 133 were in Lethbridge County.
CDES Volunteer Firefighters tallied up a total of 3260.5 hours of firefighting time. Their longest fire response was 19 hours straight in Green Prairie. Regular training hours totaled 2247 hours of volunteer time.
To date, CDES has responded to 23 code red incidents to date and is on track to surpass code red incidents from previous years. Code red calls are incidents where no ambulances are available in the Town of Coaldale to respond to a 911 call. Fire Chief McKeown credits the strain on Alberta Health Services EMS resources for the increase in code red incidents this year.
“EMS in the province is struggling to keep up and it’s not getting any better,” said Coaldale Fire Chief Kevin McKeown. “We are responding to more calls in town with ambulances coming from other areas then we have in the past. Compounding the problem has been the transition to centralized dispatch for AHS EMS which has delayed response times for fire units being dispatched to medical events. One example of this was a medical call in August that took 13 minutes from the time AHS EMS dispatch received the call, to the time it was transferred back to Lethbridge Dispatch and the fire department was notified. This is an unacceptable delay which ultimately in the end, patients pay the price.”
Additional highlights in the 2021 stat report include:
- Coaldale Firehall completion and move in
- 2021 capital projects completed on budget
- 22 firefighters eligible for the volunteer firefighter tax credit & 5 businesses eligible for the volunteer firefighter tax credit business credit
- 8 students graduated from Kate Andrews Fire Academy in June while 16 new students started in September with the newly branded Kate Andrews Fire and Emergency Services (KAFESA) Academy.
- Town of Coaldale and Lethbridge Country Fire and Rescue Services Agreement renewed from April 1, 2021 to May 31, 2024
CDES also hosted a Celebration of Life for Captain Craig Wilson on August 20, 2021, who passed away after a brief battle with cancer in December of 2020.
“The Celebration of Life was well attended from departments from all over Alberta,” said Chief McKeown. “It was a great day to remember what Captain Wilson contributed to our department and our community.”
Looking ahead, CDES has outlined a number of plans and goals for 2022.
“2021 was a big year for CDES with many successes,” said Chief McKeown. “Next year, we’ll be continuing to make some changes that deliver benefits to the community and region we serve.”