Call volume increased for the Owen Sound Fire Department last year.
The city’s Fire Chief Phil Eagleson will present the department’s 2024 annual report to the corporate services committee during Thursday’s meeting, which says firefighters had 1,095 calls for service last year — an increase of 18.7 per cent over 2023.
The report says 42 per cent of all calls were for medical assists.
Firefighters in Owen Sound responded to 22 fires last year. Eagleson’s report notes the Agricultural Society Grandstand fire at Victoria Park in May, a blaze at Rockwood Apartments on 7th Avenue East in June that displaced multiple tenants and a “wind event” resulting in 13 calls in mid-June as significant incidents the Owen Sound fire department handled in 2024.
The fire department also responded to more than 70 vehicle collisions in Owen Sound last year. Eagleson’s report identifies three intersections along 10th Street East — 4th Avenue East, 3rd Avenue East and 7th Avenue East — where the most collision responses were.
