The Golden Fire Department responded to 25 calls in the month of January, which is on pace for a typical month.
In total, they responded to 9 ‘Code Reds,’ which refers to life threatening situations, such as heart attacks and cardiac arrest, infant emergencies, overdoses and any other situation that puts a life at risk.
The department also responded to three non-residential alarms in January, which Mike Pecora, the acting fire chief, said is normally a false alarm.
“Alarms are interesting because they’re usually commercial alarms and it can be the same businesses because their alarms have a fault,” said Pecora. “It can cost the taxpayer money. Technically in our bylaw we’re allowed to charge after several false alarms.”
The department also responded to a gas leak, where snow broke a line that resulted in an entire neighbourhood being able to smell the gas. According to Pecora, typically the calls they respond to for gas leaks are a result of a propane tank running low.
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Many residents don’t know that companies put scents in propane tanks to indicate when supplies are low. Often the smell is not a result of a real gas leak.
The department also responded to two lift assist calls to help ambulances and hospitals with the transportation of patients, three vehicle rescues, an electrical call, a gas spill, and several other calls.
While calls were down in 2019, the amount of time spent on those calls represented an increase in man hours, according to Pecora. In the downtime, he said that he tried to schedule regular training sessions for the department to keep things running smoothly.
