Owen Sound firefighters responded to more than 920 calls last year.
The city’s fire chief Phil Eagleson presented the department’s 2023 annual report at a recent corporate services committee meeting.
The report says firefighters responded to a total of 28 fires in 2023. The most significant structure fire was at Kelsey’s Restaurant on 16th Street East, where an estimated $1.5-million to $2-million in damage was caused.
Five of the 28 fires were at encampments — tents or makeshift structures — around the city.
Calls for assistance increased by 10 per cent over 2022. Eagleson’s report says this was mainly due to an increase in medical calls to assist Grey County EMS. Around 39 per cent of all fire departments calls are for medical assistance.
Eagleson says the fire department resumed a home smoke alarm program in 2023.
“Where we go door-to-door throughout the entire city and ask, make sure smoke alarms are working,” Eagleson explains.
The Owen Sound fire department also completed more than 1,340 building inspections last year.