Fire department reports second busiest year on record

By Kyra Hoggan

The Castlegar Fire Department has released its 2016 statistics showing the second-busiest year on record with 903 calls for service, according to deputy fire chief Sam Lattanzio.

“If you look at our call volume over the years, it’s been steadily increasing,” Lattanzio said, adding the busiest year, 2015, saw an anomalous spike of 933 calls for a couple of reasons. “There was the wind storm on June 29 – it was a significant event that resulted in 40 to 45 calls for service in a single day, with downed trees and powerlines.”

Also in 2015 was a brutal wildfire season that had the CFD deployed to Christina Lake and Grand Forks, and ultimately responding to 171 fires, as compared to 97 in 2016.

2016 also saw the second-highest dollar amount in fire/smoke damages ($706, 550) due to several events, including the fire that gutted Crossroads Printing downtown in May, a fire at Interfor in July, and in November, both a fire in a tri-plex at 2108 Columbia Ave., and a small fire in Selkirk College’s airport facility that destroyed some very expensive equipment.

The only year showing higher damages was 2013, after arson destroyed much of St. Rita’s Church. The total fire/smoke damages that year was $1,540,500.

The CFD is starting the New Year with 31 trained volunteers (including four women) and three paid staff members, and members will be trained early this year in the administration of Naloxone for overdose patients. They already boast training in road rescue, confined space rescue, auto extraction, rope rescue, first responder medical level 3, firefighting certification, and Hazmat.

The most exciting thing the department so far has on tap for 2017, though, is the more-than-$1-million ladder truck set to take the city to new heights – 100 feet, to be exact – which is expected to arrive in late February or early March.

Anyone wishing to volunteer for the fire department, recruitment information is available on the city website at www.castlegar.ca or through the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs at www.answerthecall.ca