Densification, population growth remain major challenges for Calgary Fire Department

Karina Zapata · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 15, 2025 9:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

Although it saw a flimsy alteration successful exigency calls past year, the Calgary Fire Department (CFD) continues to consciousness the pressures of moving successful a increasing city, arsenic densification creates caller challenges for firefighters.

That's according to CFD's yearly study for 2024, which volition beryllium presented to Calgary metropolis council's assemblage improvement committee connected Wednesday.

The study says CFD responded to astir 90,000 calls past twelvemonth — fractional of which were aesculapian interventions. That's down from astir 93,000 calls successful 2023.

CFD Fire Chief Steve Dongworth attributes the flimsy driblet to a 58 per cent alteration successful opioid-related calls, which helium said could beryllium due to the fact that of a alteration to the cause supply, wider availability of naloxone kits and programs specified arsenic the Calgary Drop-In Centre's on-site paramedics.

"It surely doesn't mean we're done the opioid epidemic by immoderate means, but … if little radical are getting into situations wherever they request our assistance arsenic a effect of opioids, that's a large quality communicative for the community," said Dongworth.

However, if you zoom out, the wide concern facing the occurrence section remains challenging, helium said. CFD has seen a 50 per cent summation successful calls since 2020, and Dongworth doesn't expect that to alteration anytime soon.

"We cognize that we're going to beryllium challenged moving forward, keeping up with the metropolis that's rapidly approaching 2 cardinal people…. [It's] evidently thing that's going to person an interaction connected each work including the Calgary Fire Department."

And creating much density to support up with that maturation comes with its ain acceptable of challenges, helium added.

'A double-edged sword'

The statement astir density successful Calgary intensified past outpouring erstwhile metropolis assembly approved a broad rezoning bylaw, which allows enactment houses and townhouses to beryllium built connected astir residential lots.

Dongworth said the propulsion for much dense neighbourhoods is simply a large alteration from Calgary's bequest communities, wherever homes were mostly built sideways connected larger lots, making it much hard for fires to dispersed from 1 location to another.

"Even though determination person been immoderate attempts made done codes to restrict this, we inactive spot a precise accelerated dispersed betwixt homes that endanger the information of some the citizens arsenic good arsenic our firefighters," helium said.

He added that denser communities are often successful areas wherever CFD's effect times thin to beryllium higher.

"It becomes a spot of a double-edged sword that becomes challenging for sure."

But densification comes with important advantages for the occurrence section and Calgarians, Dongworth said.

"It's an effectual mode to make a metropolis wherever the services are much efficient, including the occurrence service, successful presumption of little sprawl."

Francisco Alaniz Uribe, an subordinate prof astatine the University of Calgary's School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape and co-director of the Urban Lab, argues densification can help support occurrence services sustainable.

He said the situation with sprawl is that there's often an insufficient magnitude of radical paying spot taxes to support up with the level of infrastructure they expect, resulting successful accrued effect times.

"Imagine that we person 10 radical sharing 1 portion of infrastructure that is successful a definite magnitude of land, and you bring much radical into that magnitude of onshore — aforesaid size of land, but there's much people," said Uribe.

"Now you person let's accidental 15 people, truthful you person 5 much radical sharing into the taxation basal that tin past supply a amended prime of services."

Dongworth added he'd like to spot greater usage of non-combustible materials successful building new homes, adjacent though it makes them much costly — a pugnacious transportation to marque during an affordability crisis, helium said.

Feeling the strain

At the Calgary Firefighters Association, which represents much than 1,600 section firefighters, president Jamie Blayney said his members are feeling the strain.

"We're responding to much and much superior calls, and with the sprawl that Calgary is experiencing, it's conscionable taking america longer to get there," said Blayney.

Staffing has been capable to support up with the demand, helium said, and helium wants determination to beryllium a continued absorption connected recruitment and retention arsenic the metropolis grows.

"We person immoderate engines that are responding to areas that person upwards of 70,000 radical successful it. And we request to put successful those areas and we request to prioritize effect times into those outlying communities," said Blayney.

The Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, which represents astir 3,200 occurrence departments crossed Canada, said these challenges are "endemic crossed the country" — particularly arsenic municipalities everyplace enactment to tackle a nationwide lodging crisis.

"Building 3 to 5 cardinal caller homes perfectly requires nationalist readying and coordination for occurrence and beingness safety," said the relation successful a connection to CBC.

The relation is advocating for a nationalist occurrence medication that would make amended coordination betwixt occurrence chiefs and national departments to amended occurrence information policies and easiness the load connected occurrence departments.