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Home My WebLink AboutFD-03-00 .., " THE CORPORATION OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF CLARINGTON REPORT Meeting: GENERAL PURPOSE AND ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE File # PIt, G z: JANUARY 17, 2000 Res.#GI/I-YI-oo Date: Report #: FD-03-00 10.12.6 By-law # Subject: MONTHLY FIRE REPORT - DECEMBER, 1999 RECOMMENDATIONS: It is respectfully recomrnended that the General Purpose and Adrninistration Committee recommend to Council the following: THAT Report FD-03-00 be received for information. 1. BACKGROUND 1.1 Our report covers the rnonth of December, 1999. It is our intent to provide Cornrnittee with inforrnation relevant to this departrnent, in a tirnely rnanner. 2. REPORT 2.1 The department responded to 190 calls in December and recorded total fire loss at $532,000. A breakdown of the calls responded to follows. Continued..... 904 ~ FD-03-00 - 2 - MONTH YEAR MONTH YEAR ENDING TO ENDING TO CLASSIFICATION DEC./99 DATE DEC./98 DATE 1999 1998 PROPERTY FIRES Oncludes structure, chimney,vehicle, miscellaneous 22 302 15 251 e.g. furniture, clothing, etc.) UNAUTHORIZED BURNING 4 108 8 102 (Burning complaints) FALSE FIRE CALLS (Includes alarm activations- accidental/malicious, 23 340 20 286 human-perceived emergencies/check calls e.g. investigate unknown odour) PUBLIC HAZARD CALLS (Includes propane/natural gas leaks, fuel/chemical 32 263 34 222 spills, power lines down/arcing, C.O. leaks, etc.) RESCUE CALLS (Includes vehicle extrication/accidents, 35 335 29 297 commercial/industrial accidents, home/residential accidents, water/ice rescue) MEDICAL ASSIST CALLS (Includes assist to ambulance personnel with 56 678 54 605 respiratory and resuscitation emergencies) MISCELLANEOUS CALLS (Includes assist to other agencies, other public 18 155 11 90 service, etc.) TOTAL CALLS 190 2,181 171 1,853 TOTAL FIRE LOSS $532,000 $3,399,461 $222,100 $1,112,300 ST. #1 93 NUMBER OF ALARMS BY STATION ST. #2 ST. #3 ST. #4 ST. #5 15 19 52 11 TOTAL 190 Continued.... 905 , FD-03-00 - 3 - 2.2 As of Decernber 31, 1999 we have responded to 167 carbon rnonoxide calls of which 50 had unusual readings. 2.3 The total nurnber of calls for 1999 increased by approximately 18 percent. The dollar loss was substantially higher in 1999 as a result of several structure fires. The most damaging occurred at a private residence on February 24, 1999 resulting in a total loss of building and contents in the 1.2 million dollar range. 2.4 On November 24, 1999, the fire department responded to a VIA train derailment on the C.N.A. tracks between Holt Road and Symons Road in Bowmanville. This event prompted the response from numerous agencies including personnel from Clarington Fire Department, Ontario Power Darlington, Durham Regional Police, Ambulance, Canadian National Railways, Ontario Transportation Safety Bureau and GO Transit to narne a few. With Durharn Regional Police and Canadian National Railways each bringing their rnobile Command Post on scene, it allowed all agencies to have a representative gather in the command post, and participate in the debriefings and updates. Because the event was handled with sufficient manpower and agencies on scene, there was no need to activate the Municipal Operations Centre. Considering the amount of people on scene, everything worked extremely well. At present time the Transportation Safety Bureau is investigating the derailrnent. 2.5 Effective Septernber 6, 1999 we initiated 24 hour coverage at the Courtice Fire Station. In order to accomplish this goal it was necessary to hire eight more suppression staff mernbers. This was completed in two stages, four people were hired in January, 1999 and four in July, 1999. 2.6 In 1999, Council also approved hiring a Fire Inspector to assist the departrnent its fire prevention goals. Effective October 18, 1999 the Fire Prevention Division 'consists of two staff rnernbers with the hiring of the Fire Inspector. 2.7 The Fire Prevention Division was actively involved in the Risk Watch Prograrn, a comprehensive injury prevention curriculum for children in preschool through Grade 8. Several rneetings were hosted at the Clarington Fire Departrnent Headquarters Station in Bowrnanville during 1999 and the prograrn is currently being test piloted in three schools in this Municipality. Continued..... 906 , . FD-03-00 - 4 - 2.8 The Alarmed for Life Program continued in 1999 with the statistics indicating a need for public education to increase the number of families with home escape plans. It is this departrnent's desire to increase our efforts in this area during the year 2000. A total of 555 homes were visited by Clarington Firefighters in 1999. Ninety-two percent of the smoke alarms tested were in working order. Three percent of the households visited did not wish to participate in the inspection. Fifty-three percent of the hornes visited had CO detectors installed. The Wilmot Creek Retirement Village was also visited by our firefighters. Of the 118 homes visited 81 % had working srnoke alarms. Thirty-eight percent of the households visited had CO detectors installed. 2.9 Once again Clarington Firefighters will continue the Alarmed for Life Prograrn by visiting homes to ensure that all have working srnoke alarms and home escape plans. 2.10 In 1999, Clarington Fire Departrnent becarne involved with the Durham Regional Police and Durham Health Department in the Race Against Drugs (RAD) program. Clarington Fire's component will be a one day fire safety display and educational prograrn to be set up at the Garnet Rickard Cornplex in the summer of 2000. Grade 5 students will be bused in to take part in this presentation. 2.11 During 1999 all full time and part-time firefighters recertified in Defibrillator use. Currently, the full tirne cornplement have cornpleted Cornponent 2 of the Ontario Firefighter Curriculum and are progressing to certification of the third component. The part-time complement has just started Component 2 of the Curriculurn. 2.12 A driver training program was initiated in 1999. This program was designed to better prepare drivers conducting circle checks, up-grade driving techniques and their knowledge of driving and traffic regulations. 2.13 The new dispatch software prograrn, Crisys, was installed late in 1999. While we are responding to calls using this new system, work is still being cornpleted to bring all of the cornponents into use. Continued..... 907 , I . FD-03-00 - 5 - 3. RECOMMENDATIONS 3.1 It is respectfully recornrnended that report FD-03-00 be received for information. Respectfully submitted, Reviewed by G~'c:J~ Michael G. Crei Fire Chief. Franklin Wu, Chief Administrative Officer jsr 908