'The trend is concerning': Saskatoon Fire Department response times fall behind national standard

A record number of calls for service is affecting how quickly the Saskatoon Fire Department is able to respond to an emergency.

Saskatoon Fire Department (SFD) deputy chief Mike Ralston read a report to city council's standing policy committee on environment, utilities and corporate services on Tuesday detailing how a record demand is affecting performance.

Firefighters were alerted to 21,848 incidents last year, an increase of nearly 2,000 compared to 19,932 incidents reported in 2021. The record number of calls represents a 55 per cent increase in the last five years, including an 11 per cent increase from 2021.

"It's something we really need to watch," Ralston said.

"Where we monitor data, we watch our workloads. And we have seen some performance level objectives drop in terms of our response times."

Saskatoon's downtown and the western parts of the city continue to represent a bulk of the incidents firefighters respond to. Districts no.1 and no. 2, comprising areas ranging from Valley Road in the south, Blairmore to the west and Kensingston in the north, make up 55 per cent of calls in Saskatoon -- more than the other seven regions in the city combined.