For the first time in several years, 100 Mile Fire Rescue’s call volume decreased in 2023.
100 Mile Fire Chief Dave Bissat said the year was an average one with his department responding to 472 calls for service compared to 504 last year. Bissat said this included 93 fire-related calls, 119 road rescue calls, 193 medical calls and 67 administration calls for burning complaints.
“In 2023 the most common cause of fires were caused by outdoor burning and improper discarding of smoking products as well as kitchen-related fires,” Bissat said. “In the past, our call volume has increased annually however this year it did not.”
He attributes this decrease to a mix of the department’s fire prevention efforts and the late arrival of winter, with no major snowfall occurring until this month.
Bissat said his team of 25 members is ready to take on every call they receive. He plans to run a recruitment drive in February and would ideally like to see the hall have 30 paid-on-call firefighters by the end of that month.
Continually training and developing his firefighters is one of Bissat’s favourite parts of being chief. He took over in October of 2023 from Roger Hollander and said he’s settled into his new role.
“I have been enjoying the new position as fire chief, it’s certainly challenging at times but it is rewarding helping the public on a daily basis,” Bissat said.
Now that the New Year is here Bissat encourages residents of 100 Mile House to do some basic safety checks around their homes. Ensuring your CO detectors are up to date and have new batteries is important as are ensuring your home’s fire extinguisher is still fully charged and ready to use. It also never hurts to go over your emergency evacuation plan with your family, should the worst ever happen.
