ATHABASCA – Athabasca County’s various protective services had a busy summer responding to calls about loose dogs, motor vehicle collisions, and house fires.
During the Oct. 15 committee of the whole meeting, director of protective services Christa Wilkinson provided an update on her department's work over July, August, and September, which included stats from fire services and community peace officers (CPO).
The county’s nine fire districts dealt with 83 calls for service, with Colinton leading the way with 16 calls. Wandering River, which had a busy Q2, was much quieter over the summer, responding to only eight calls.
County-wide, the most common call the men and women dealt with was vehicle incidents, with 28 calls coming in over the third quarter, bringing the yearly total up to 69 as of Oct. 1. Medical first response was the second most common, with the volunteers going out to 18 calls in the quarter, and 43 so far this year.
“Our fire service volunteers are always busy servicing, maintaining, and training to ensure they are ready to respond. Each district puts in hundreds of hours in preparation which often goes unnoticed and is in no way captured in our statistical reports,” said Wilkinson.
Athabasca County’s CPOs also had a busy September, handing out 73 traffic citations, 29 warnings, and attending 27 calls across their coverage area.
Dogs remain the most common call the three peace officers deal with, with six reports being filed in September. As of Oct. 1, the department has responded to 61 complaints relating to the bylaw — in 2023, the officers had responded to 89 calls.
“While the stats are a good measure of the calls our enforcement team sees, it is not able to highlight the complexity and time investment required for some of the calls the team encounters,” said Wilkinson. “In addition to the calls we receive, our CPOs are always out and about trying to engage the public (including car seats, safety, helmets, etc.) as well as constant education.”
Three files were related to the fire protection bylaw, which is below average for the category; the CPOs have generated 58 fire files this year, a stark increase from 18 the year before.
In total, not counting traffic tickets, the CPOs have responded to 217 events year-to-date, down from 259 the year before. They’ve also written 443 tickets, to the tune of $100,258 and issued 172 warnings.
Now that the region has had its first snowfall of the year, each department will start to shift its focus. While the CPOs are always focused on public safety, the volunteer firefighters will start to shift their focus onto motor vehicle incidents.
“Working the in the cold comes with its own set of challenges, requiring additional maintenance and servicing to occur throughout the winter,’ said Wilkinson.
