Chief Art Brown: "Fire department has an average year in 2009"
Posted Mar 11, 2010 By Tara Gesner
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Tweet ThisEMC News - "Our department had an average year for calls," said Art Brown, fire chief for Mississippi Mills Fire Department.
Brown's statement was the introduction to his annual fire company activity report for 2009, given to Mississippi Mills town council at its March 1 Committee of the Whole meeting.
He reported there were 200 fire calls in 2009, down from 231 in 2008. The service area for Mississippi Mills Fire Department includes the communities of Almonte, Appleton, Blakeney, Clayton, Pakenham and Ramsay, totaling 583 square kilometres of land.
A breakdown of the calls revealed: structure fires (7), vehicle fires (7), chimney fires (3), motor vehicle accident (16), alarm (41), ambulance assist (17), mutual aid (13), grass and brush (12), perceived emergency (15), power lines (3), natural gas leak (2), carbon dioxide (4), propane leak (2), pot on stove (3), hot tub (1), clothes dryer (1), propane tank (1), smoke in house (1), furnace malfunction-smoke (1), water rescue (1), woman stuck in garage (1), public service (5), and, training (43).
Brown pointed out the majority of calls - just over 20 per cent - are alarm calls, noting the department has been monitoring these more closely. Last year, 25 per cent were alarm calls.
"Some of these are false alarms," he said.
Currently, three false alarm calls (per year) are allowed before the owner of the premises is charged (fine).
Brown reported that structure fires resulted in a yearly loss of $433,700 and vehicle fires accounted for a $19,025 loss.
There have been 21 calls thus far in 2010, with one of two structure fires resulting in a substantial loss - approximately $750,000.
"This was the fire at the home of John Willard in Almonte," noted Brown.
The fire at Willard's house - located on a small island that can only be accessed by a narrow, private bridge, occurred on the evening of Jan. 27.
"We couldn't get our trucks near it," he said.
SMOKE ALARM PROGRAM
Brown said that Lanark County Fire Services have entered into an agreement with the Children's Aid Society.
"When a CAS worker visits a home they are checking for working smoke alarms," he explained. "Since January, they have checked 123 homes and have left 25 new detectors plus 21 batteries."
He said the program is working really well and hopes to see the initiative expand.
FIRE BAN
According to Brown, it was agreed by all Lanark County fire chiefs that a fire ban be placed in effect, beginning April 1 and ending May 15.
"There will absolutely be no burning across the county," he said. "This will hopefully reduce the number of grass and brush fires in the spring."
SNOW REMOVAL
In the face of a hurting economy, the 2010 budget process has not been an easy one for Mississippi Mills council and staff.
During a daylong budget session at the municipal office on Feb. 8, Brown asked if the Roads and Public Works Department could do the snow removal at the Pakenham Fire Hall.
"I spoke to Tim Kocialek and John Gleeson regarding this matter and they agreed to do the plowing, saving the municipality paying a contractor."
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