Powell River Fire Rescue is no longer responding to non-urgent medical calls.
City council approved a change in the fire department’s level of service Thursday night (Dec. 18), which took effect Friday.
Councillor Rob Southcott – a former paramedic chief – says this “gradual rollback” will ease wear and tear on firefighters.
“I really feel that it should be very safe for this change in dispatch…this is, I think, a very conservative and very smart approach to this and I wholeheartedly support it,” Southcott said after reading the motion.
He says BC Ambulance continues to look to firefighters to pick up the slack for its own inefficiencies.
Under the new protocol, city firefighters will only respond to serious or life-threatening situations, known as purple and red colour-coded calls under the BC Emergency Health Services Clinical Response Model.
Fire Chief Martin Drakeley says the local dispatch system is already aware.
“Our dispatch has been in the loop for the last week or so. I’ve spoken to management, our BC Ambulance management, who’ve spoken to their dispatch so there’s not much of a change for BC Ambulance dispatch. During COVID they completely shut the door to medicals for the fire department just because they couldn’t control the exposure during the pandemic,” Drakeley explained.
A report by the fire chief notes the department does not get reimbursed by the province for medical calls, including pay, vehicle use and medical supplies.
The report says about 22 per cent of all calls so far this year for Powell River firefighters are deemed non-urgent.
As of Thursday, Powell River Fire Rescue had responded to 857 medical aid calls, accounting for almost 61 per cent of all fire department calls this year. Almost 22 per cent were non-urgent.
Powell River is not alone in the change. Fire departments only responding to high-priority calls is also happening in Port Alberni, Nanaimo and Victoria to name a few.
