Mayors concerned about unnecessary fire calls

Firefighters in the counties are tasked with the very important job of keeping residents safe from harm, not responding to unnecessary calls for assistance.

The Nation mayor Denis Pommainville wants the counties to re-examine the number of "useless and unnecessary" calls for assistance firefighters in the area are responding to.

"Eighty to 90 per cent of the calls in my municipality are, I hate to say it, useless," he told committee of the whole on March 9. "The firefighters are asked to respond to an emergency because the ambulance can't come and quite often, the ambulance has already come and gone by the time they arrive. This is a very serious concern and it costs a lot of money each time this happens."

Pommainville said he has brought the issue up with emergency services director Michel Chrétien, who couldn't be in attendance at the meeting.

"Mr. Chrétien has assured me that he will come to our next meeting and discuss this further," he commented. "I have talked to him about two or three incidents where this has happened and I think it is something we need to address. Our services need to much better co-ordinated that this."

Clarence-Rockland mayor Richard Lalonde said the same thing is happening in his municipality.

"There have been instances where 30 to 40 firefighters respond to an incident and when they get there, no one is injured," he said. "It is very expensive. We're taking three hours of overtime (pay) for each firefighter."

Noting Chrétien's absence, chief administrative officer (CAO) Stéphane Parisien pointed out that, quite often, the problem starts with the initial call to 911 and the information callers supply to the dispatch.

"Often, people don't know what's wrong with the person in need of assistance," he explained. "Sometimes, the wrong emergency services are dispatched. I realize this is a serious issue."

He noted that the City of Toronto has developed a new system to better screen incoming calls to 911 to ensure the proper emergency services are dispatched.

"This is something we can look in to at the next meeting," he said.