EDITORIAL – Rise in medical calls for KFR raises issue of double coverage
(Image: Kamloops Fire Rescue)
An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.
CITY HALL STAFF will be asked to track the costs of sending Kamloops Fire Rescue to medical emergencies. This, after City council’s security and safety committee heard from the fire chief that medical calls are increasing.
An increase in calls is no surprise. The population is growing, the age of the population is growing, and the drug overdose crisis is adding extra pressure to first responders.
The cost issue has come up many times over the years, and inevitably leads to the question of whether we should continue sending both ambulances and fire trucks to medical emergencies. Opponents say it’s a waste of money and that medical calls should be left to the provincial ambulance service.
That makes sense at first glance but the facts present a difference picture. City firefighters very often arrive ahead of the ambulance. When an ambulance does arrive, they hand the situation over to the paramedics and return to the station.
Other than the cost of gas and maintenance on their truck, it seems to me there’s not a huge expense because firefighters spend a lot of time being on call.
It would be worth considering adding an ambulance-style response vehicle to the KFR fleet to avoid having to use trucks designed to fight fires but ambulance vans are expensive.
The City council committee is looking in the wrong places. The problem is with the failure to fix social issues that contribute to the rise in calls, and with the need to augment resources for the hard-working ambulance service.
There’s nothing wrong with knowing what something costs but the current double-coverage system works just fine. If we want it, we have to pay for it.
When the issue of costs was being debated almost a decade ago, the late Coun. Pat Wallace put it best: “Perhaps,” she said, “there’s a feeling that we, in some way, subsidize the ambulance service and I say, ‘Good for us’.”
I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.
Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Speaking of KFR, I’m wondering why the chief, who was recently elevated to oversee Community Services, is focussing on the mayor’s burnt out car describing it as a fire hazard. Jeesh, there are so many fire hazards around town that could cause much more human damage. Makes me wonder if it’s another collaboration between councillors and administration to humiliate the mayor.
Rather than whining about time spent on medical emergencies that they generally have time for, why doesn’t KFR focus on more serious fire hazards than the mayor’s vehicle?
Last year during the heat and drought I raised the fire hazard question after I had driven from the airport and noticed dead cedar hedges along Tranquille.
Within throwing distance of the Tranquille Firehall there are many dead cedar hedges on residential properties, probably owned by absentee or slum landlords. These are a much more serious and life threatening fire hazard than an already burnt out car on an asphalt lot. Another example that the North Shore seems to be neglected by the City.
Why doesn’t KFR spend more time sending letters to advise irresponsible or ignorant landlords that their hedges are a life-threatening fire hazard? More community education rather than spending time picking on the mayor would be more responsible.
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Today’s fire across the street from the mayor’s car lot begs the question of why the fire marshal was taking the time to deal with an already burned car to the extent of publicizing it in the media instead of dealing with the abandoned social housing structure across the street. Why wasn’t the fire marshal making public media statements about this far worse hazard?
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You’re probably referring to 91 Seymour St. West, which is a few blocks away from the mayor’s car lot.
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I guess I should have said, “basically across the street.” The fact remains that the fire marshal talked to media about the mayor’s car when there are far worse fire hazards close by and all around town he could have chattered to the media about.
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What is the actual call count for such places as have been mentioned by many people, including the present Mayor, where KFR resources are seen hundreds of times per year?
Why do these places not have trained staff on site to administer Naloxone as soon as possible?
No independent review of these places required???? No accountability? Humbug
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Hear, hear. I hope our elected representatives at all levels are listening.
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At present, there is no recall legislation for municipal government. That needs to change.
Is it time to have a citizens’ group write our own letter to the Premier of BC and leader of the Opposition? Is it time to express logical concerns about the specific downfalls of the members of this council and why they are the catalyst for change?
Could the media also be involved, naming names and specific events which outline the immaturity these folks have expressed in their words and actions? The media outlets could include BCTV, Global BC, CBC in Toronto, CTV in Toronto as well as others.
Is there a real public interest story here? Would it be for the good of democracy?
If these folks on council feel they are untouchable, what would hearing their names and seeing the pitiful display in Council chambers earlier this year do with their sense of confidence?
Are these the right time and the right circumstances to begin the movement for real change?
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You would think Katie or Kelly or Mickey or Bill or Dale sure would ask those questions.
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If a person has had emergency services called due to overdose three times then mandatory rehab, imo. And BC government: please start building and staffing adequate facilities for long-term rehab. Two or even six weeks doesn’t cut it. And yes, why is a full-size fire truck needed for a medical issue?
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The firefighters already have smaller vehicles which they could easily use to respond to calls that are lesser-than a full scale emergency. I have suggested in the past (directly to council and on local new sites commentaries like this one) adding/using such vehicles with no more than a two person team in them.
But I see Kelly, Katie et al pushing the “downloads panic button” which is a very convenient way at deflecting local responsibilities to better manage what is already available.
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Having had to call the ambulance many times for a family member with a chronic illness, I often wondered why, sometimes, 2 ambulances, a fire truck or 2 and an ambulance supervisor respond for a call that just requires oxygen and an IV insertion and 1 ambulance? We know what is required and calmly tell the dispatcher( we’ve dealt with this for 30 years) at the time of the call. I have heard of this happening on several occasions with other patients. While this level of care is truly appreciated, it seems a bit of overkill. Our emergency workers are overworked and understaffed so incidents like this just put an added strain on the system.
And to our awesome EMT and firefighters, thankyou for all the work you do to keep us all safe. You are amazing.
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I believe firefighters should be fighting fires, not attending to overdoses. If people feel that’s a service they want fire and rescue spending time on, take a small portion of Coun. Neustaeter’s legal defence fund and buy a Kia for the fire department. The car would pay for itself in short order. I can’t say the same for the Councillor.
Every dollar we can save in this environment is a win. Those big trucks are not environmentally friendly when you can send a Kia and a Naloxone kit. David Suzuki is not impressed.
Rampaging open drug use and street chaos is here to stay. Let’s not spend the farm trying in vain to fix a problem that is ultimately encouraged by policy, service providers and the judicial system.
In 10 years will we be looking back at all the billions of dollars wasted and shrug? It’s time to focus like a laser on value for dollar and ROI for all the billions wasted on this issue, both direct and indirect.
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The system doesn’t really work just fine the way it is and improvements could certainly be made. But it would be a very steep uphill battle with a system entrenched in its ways and with a large sense of entitlement. In reality the firefighters are on a salary hence don’t get paid any more or any less by responding to various calls.
What is probably the case is they don’t like to respond to reoccurring distress calls coming from a certain segment of the populace and they are not the only ones on that. Ongoing and seemingly futile recruitment efforts for paramedics and police is a growing problem too for arguably similar reasons.
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