Edmonton Fire Rescue Services’ new chief steps into the role

Edmonton Fire Rescue Services (EFRS) has seen the measurement of calls for work turn successful caller years. A bulk of those calls are for aesculapian incidents.

This is simply a situation the city’s caller occurrence chief, David Lazenby, is trying to navigate, each portion making definite the work keeps up with metropolis growth.

“We’ve got implicit a cardinal radical to support and we privation to bash it to the champion of our abilities. We’re precise arrogant of what we bash and we request to springiness our radical what they need,” said Lazenby.

Lazenby replaced erstwhile main Joe Zatylny, who announced his resignation successful May 2024 aft astir 4 years arsenic Edmonton’s occurrence chief. Lazenby was the interim main aft Zatylny near the role, earlier stepping into the imperishable relation connected Jan. 2, 2025.

“I’ve worked successful six occurrence services successful my vocation and this is the astir challenging metropolis for idiosyncratic to beryllium a archetypal responder in, for a full assortment of reasons. I person the utmost respect for each our archetypal responders here,” said Lazenby.

Lazenby is present successful complaint of astir 1,200 firefighters and 30 stations successful our city. He says since 2020, the service’s telephone measurement has gone up 60 per cent.

“Firefighters bash truthful overmuch and I deliberation the large happening to understand, erstwhile radical don’t cognize who to call, they telephone us,” Lazenby said.

On apical of their mean occurrence calls, firefighters besides respond to a wide scope of incidents. Calls see crystal and h2o rescue, aesculapian incidents and more.

Lazenby says overdose calls person accrued by 270 per cent successful the past 4 years.

“You tin ideate the toll that takes, some successful presumption of responding to each the other calls. But besides the interaction to the quality beings that are responding to those calls, seeing the calamity and the nonaccomplishment they’re seeing connected a regular basis,” said Lazenby.

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“Sadly we’ve attended funerals wherever radical who person passed, taken their lives and things similar that. Those things measurement dense connected me. I privation to marque definite that we support our radical truthful that they tin support Edmontonians. I don’t instrumentality that work lightly.”

That’s wherefore 1 of the chief’s main priorities is to marque definite archetypal responders get the enactment they need.

Lazenby says recruitment is doing good for the work and they spot plentifulness of funny people. He besides recognizes however important it is to turn the work successful the adjacent fewer years.

“Edmonton has expansive aspirations astir the colonisation size that it wants to become. We person to beryllium precise mindful of that and guarantee that we, arsenic a occurrence service, turn astatine a akin gait to guarantee that we support each Edmontonians equally,” helium said.