A 10-year strategic Fire Master Plan approved by city council will initiate a process that will see staffing levels at the Sault Fire Service beefed up.
With last night’s approval, the total number of firefighters for the local department will increase from 68 to 76—–Sault Professional Firefighters Association President Richard Bishop says that number prior to realignment had been 88…

The approval also means the minimum number of firefighters on duty at all times will be 15 up from 13 and the minimum number of firefighters in an initial response to an emergency fire call will be increased from 3 to 4.
Bishop says he is not in favour of reducing the number of fire stations from 4 to 3 as recommended in the plan considering the costs involved in relocating the main station downtown further north.
He also believes moving to a three station model will be very good in covering some parts of the city but there will be gaps in some other areas.
The plan also recommends a review of the tiered response agreement with the aim of reducing the number of medical calls firefighters respond to—–medical calls make up around 30% of all calls received by the local fire department.
It’s a recommendation not shared by Bishop…

Council was provided a breakdown in call volume over a close to five year period beginning in January 2012 which showed structural fires represented just 2% of all calls and rescue related calls made up 5%.
The two most common calls were medical assists and false alarms—both over 30%.
Steve Thurlow of Dillon Consulting told SooToday following last night’s meeting that our city has a high percentage of false alarms compared to other municipalities and the Master Plan lays out a process to look at what’s driving the false alarms and what strategies could be used to reduce that number…

The plan provides the city with what was described as a blue print to work with when it comes to fire protection provided by the Sault Fire Services.