BARRHEAD - "Nice warm weather, and everyone lighting everything on fire."
That was Barrhead Regional Fire Services chief Gary Hove's response to County of Barrhead reeve Doug Drozd's question, "What's new?"
Hove appeared at the Dec. 3 council meeting to update councillors on the fire department's third-quarter statistics covering July, August, and September.
Coun. Paul Properzi asked if there was a time limit for area farmers to burn their piles.
"For the larger burns, the deadline is Dec. 15 because we try to control the smoke generated during the colder times of the winter," Hove replied.
He added that right now, there are a lot of farmers who are burning to beat the deadline.
"I have gotten some complaints [about the burning]," Hove said. "People got started late ... because they were waiting for the snow, with some starting only yesterday, and they are lighting lots of piles."
He added that many farmers also held off burning due to the dry conditions last year and now need to clear the land so they can farm it next season.
"A lot of people are also afraid to burn and like to do it in the fall because they have all winter for that fire to self-extinguish or when they can check on it more often," he said.
Unfortunately, he said, the wind had not cooperated, and at times, especially in the mornings, heavy smoke had been in some areas.
Reeve Doug Drozd asked if the increased burning activity later in the year meant that permit requests had run out.
"Have the fire guardians and yourself just been run ragged, passing out fire permits and inspecting piles?"
Hove replied that it had been a busy time but added that he usually doesn't do the inspecting, leaving that to the fire guardians.
The exception this year is burn pits.
"If someone wanted a burn pit permit, they had to get them through me or [deputy fire chief Ted Amos]," he said, adding this was due to the number of individuals using their pits to dispose of general refuse. "So we went out to do an education thing, with anyone wanting, burn pit permit, take out the couches, the appliances, construction waste things like that."
BRFS third quarter statistics
BRFS firefighters responded to 116 incidents in the third quarter, not including two mutual aid responses and seven motor vehicle collisions on provincial highways. One of the two mutual aid responses was to a municipal neighbour, while the other was to the provincial wildfire response, specifically to the Semo Complex wildfire in Garden River.
Once again, ambulance or medical assistance calls easily outpaced all other categories at 74 responses, 47 within the Town of Barrhead boundaries, and 16 in the county.
In the past, Hove has noted that the reason for the large discrepancy between town and county responses is demographics, as the Town of Barrhead has a more senior population due to the location of the senior assisted living residents.
The second highest category of responses was alarm investigations at 22, with the majority being from the town at 22 compared to eight in the county.
Next was grass or wildland fires at eight, with all the responses in the county's jurisdiction.
Training
Hove noted in the third quarter of 2024, another group of BRFS firefighters completed their National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1001 course, which firefighters must complete to be considered professional firefighters.
"This year, we had the biggest class we've ever had," he said.
Hove attributed part of the increase to the interest in BRFS' junior firefighter program, which is open to youth from 16 to 18.
He added that the program might be too successful and that he is attempting to scale it down, at least temporarily.
"What happens is that someone from the high school joins, and they bring three friends, and they bring three friends and so on," Hove explained, adding two of the most recent graduates from the junior program have decided to pursue careers in emergency services.
He noted that a BRFS junior firefighter grad started her career with the Alberta Emergency Management Agency.
"She recently spoke to [current junior firefighter program members], telling them about her experiences this summer, how she was part of the truck and bus [evacuation effort] out of Jasper, and taking pumps up to the [Semo Complex wildfire in Garden River]," Hove said.
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
