Mac Olsen
Express Staff
@SmokyRiverExprs
All farmers are advised to contact Smoky River Fire and Rescue about burns they are conducting, including the locations.
Fire Chief Marcel Maure says, if you’re land is located in a Fire Protection Area, you will have to get a permit before being allowed to burn.
Starting March 1, all fire burning activities within FPAs will require permits.
Maure presented his monthly report to the M.D. council during their meeting on February 8.
Smoky River Fire and Rescue handled 12 calls for service in January:
. Three medical calls.
. Four monitored alarms.
. Five motor vehicle collisions.
Maure also presented his overall report for 2016, which totaled 185 calls for service, which is an 11 per cent increase over 2015. The total calls for service in 2016 consisted of:
. 80 medical calls.
. 19 motor vehicle collisions.
. 28 fires.
. 39 false alarms.
. 10 STARS landings.
. Three mutual aid calls.
. Six other calls.
Maure highlighted the fact that the 39 false alarms amounted to 21 per cent of the call volume. If residents and businesses answer calls from the monitoring companies, that will help to reduce the number of false alarms.
In other news, in January, one of the fire department’s vehicles rolled onto its side while on its way to a motor vehicle collision. However, the vehicle has been sent out for repair.
The M.D. council has approved the appointments of Kevin Roy, Dave Gervais and Maure as the fire guardians for 2017.
Also, work continues on the new regional fire hall, located just west of the Rocky Mountain Equipment dealership in Falher.
An inspection of the building was to be completed on February 13.
Smoky River Fire and Rescue expects to move into the building sometime in February.
An open house will be held on June 23.