City of Courtenay Annual Report 2022

ORGANIZATIONAL AND GOVERNANCE EXCELLENCE

Fire prevention work Full time staff conducted 1,725 fire inspections in Courtenay and fire protection districts, most of which were found to be free of any major fire code or life safety violations. The majority of code violations involved burned out emergency lighting and exit signs, or fire extinguishers that required annual servicing. The fire department's public education program was fully operational in 2022 following two years of limitations during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, Fire Department members once again delivered fire drills, smoke alarm checks, fire safety house training to elementary aged children, and fire extinguisher training at pre-pandemic levels. Training and new recruits 2022 was a very busy year for firefighter training, with membership investing over 3,600 hours on topics including fire suppression, auto extrication, rope rescue and self rescue techniques. Crews also spent considerable time training how to operate Tower 12, the new 100-foot aerial platform truck that arrived in September. Ten people with no practical firefighting experience joined the recruit training program in September and are on schedule to be “truck ready” in one calendar year.

Courtenay Fire Department at Apex Mountain

Member deployments Even though the 2022 wildfire season in British Columbia was not as destructive as past seasons, the length and intensity of the fire season increased considerably due to historic drought conditions that plagued the province. The Courtenay Fire Department once again assisted the Province of BC fight these fires, with crews deployed to Apex Resort for a total of 14 days. During their deployments, crews extinguished hot spots in residential areas, removed fuel loads from homes that had been evacuated, scouted fire activity, and supported the BC Forest Service in their attempts to divert fires around populated areas. The experience that firefighters gained from participating in these operations is an enormous benefit to our community should we ever have a similar situation happen here. Revenue generated from assistance to the province will be put towards future fire department capital needs.

FIRE DEPARTMENT BY THE NUMBERS

2019

2020

2021

2022

Emergency calls

871 331

566 240

553 281

740 313

Duty calls

Fire inspections Full time staff

1725

1608

1712

1761

7

6

6

6

Paid-for-call firefighters

50 10

46

50

50 11

Provisional firefighters (waitlist)

8

8

29

City of Courtenay | 2022 Annual Report