Larry Gabruch presents the 10-year report of the fire department to the Mayor and Council of the Town of Battleford during a meeting on Jan. 20, 2025. He is the Fire Chief for both the Town and the Rural Municipality of Battle River No. 438. (Kenneth Cheung/ battlefordsNOW staff)

By battlefordsNOW staff

FIRE CALLS

Battleford and areas fire calls drop 25% in 2024, staffing challenges loom

Jan 21, 2025 | 4:06 PM

There is a 25 per cent decrease in overall calls compared to the 10-year average in the Town of Battleford and surrounding rural municipalities according to the local fire department.

During the town council meeting on Monday, Larry Gabruch, the fire chief overseeing the Town of Battleford and the Rural Municipality of Battle River 438, presented the 10-year report.

Gabruch shared the fire department responded to 77 calls in 2024, down from its typical annual average of around 100 calls, noting that fire is a “streaky business” and that call volumes fluctuate. Still, the data did not show any concerning trend lines.

“We’ve been very busy this month[January]. We’re exceeding our monthly average, so you never really know where those numbers ultimately are going to play out,” he said.

Mayor Ames Leslie, who is also a part-time firefighter, agrees on the hard-to-predict aspect of fire incidents, saying, “there are really no trends.”

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“Sometimes, it is because you don’t have as much inclement weather. Sometimes it’s because, for the month, the drivers are a little bit more careful. We have a little bit more fire prevention in our community, resulting in fewer residential or commercial fires,” Leslie said.

As per the report, there were an estimated 40 structural fire losses last year in town, marking a 77 per cent decrease compared to 2023.

Staffing concerns

While the department’s overall call volume was down, Gabruch is concerned about maintaining adequate staffing levels in the coming years.

Pointing out that the 21-member roster is currently at full capacity, with many long-serving firefighters nearing retirement age, the department must focus recruitment efforts on the mid-30s demographic.

“One thing that we’ve learned over the years is you don’t want to tap in when you have a young family. You want to try and get them shortly thereafter, which usually puts them in that mid-30s as an optimum demographic age to target,” he explained.

The fire department team size has never been greater than 24 people, he added.

When discussing why they face a potential labour shortage, Gabruch believes it is a social problem.

“In the sense that it’s very difficult to find people to serve, a lot of community groups are slowly shrinking in size,” he said.

“I think social media and other things preoccupy their time, and it’s a distraction, but at the end of the day, it requires people like yourself and people as we have in our fire department to make our communities thrive and prosper and be safe.”

Moving forward, Gabruch said they would “redouble” their efforts to gather more new forces to expand their roster.

“It’s a timely transition to become a fireman in the sense that you can train, but you know the best training is first-hand experience, obviously, and the quicker you can have people on board and expose them to a multitude of calls, the more valuable they become to the department.”

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Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com