PERIOD REPORT
DATE: January 26, 2026 Report No. FIRE-26-001
TO: Dan Horan, Chief Administrative Officer
FROM: Matt Furlot, Fire Chief
SUBJECT:TITLE Fire Department & Emergency Management Program - 2025 Third Period Report...Body
The following is a report on the activities pertaining to the Fire Department and the Emergency Management Program from September 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025.
I. FIRE DEPARTMENT DIVISION ACHIEVEMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
1. OPERATIONS
During the third period of 2025, Esquimalt Fire Rescue Services responded to a variety of emergency incidents and completed numerous routine activities.
Operational Observations:
* Medical aid calls remain consistently high, continuing to account for a significant portion of frontline workload and reinforcing sustained operational pressure on suppression crews.
* Alarm calls increased notably during this period. Although many do not involve an active fire, each requires a full emergency response, drawing critical resources away from other service demands. This trend may reflect increased development, higher occupancy, or aging alarm systems and warrants further analysis.
* New business licenses rose significantly, with each application requiring fire department review and inspection to ensure life safety and occupancy standards are met. While this growth reflects a healthy local economy, it places increasing pressure on inspection capacity at a time when crews are already stretched to maintain existing workloads.
* Burning complaints declined sharply, likely reflecting the effectiveness of targeted public communication on the Fire Control and Fireworks Bylaws. This demonstrates how proactive education can reduce enforcement-related demand on operational crews.
The volume of calls continues to gradually increase, from 340 incidents this period in 2024, to 371 incidents for the same period in 2025. Total incidents continue to rise year after year, with 2025 being a record year for Call Volu...
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