Grande Prairie City Council approved the Grande Prairie Fire Department’s request to advocate for provincial funding to help with what they call immediate and sustainable funding for fire medical response services.
Councilor Dylan Bressey says for months they have been hearing increasing concerns from firefighters about their medical first response, and how long they spend on scenes without ambulances to do the proper medical care.
“The two things the council is advocating, for now, is that we get appropriate funding from the provincial government for medical first response, so we can make sure that our people have the proper training and equipment they need to take care of our residents when our residents need help.”
Bressey adds that it is their priority to ensure first responders have the resources and training so they can help residents in a timely manner.
“It is concerning when our firefighters are expected to be on the scene without an ambulance there are liability moral issues for them. But even more importantly we are concerned for the residents who don’t have the appropriate medical equipment and people on the scene to help them when they need it.”
Another issue that the council is looking into is the increase in 911 transfer calls. Bressey says they are looking at other options the province could explore to touch provincial funding to targets in terms of time to transfer those 911 calls.
The fire department took the delegation to the council in April and the council carried the motion at the council meeting on May 1st.