Vancouver Fire surpasses record number of calls in 2023
Posted December 21, 2023 12:59 pm.
Vancouver Fire Rescue Services (VFRS) says 2023 is officially a record-breaking year for call volumes.
In a social media post, the department says as of Wednesday, its firefighters had responded to 70,406 calls — “the most in our history.”
“Our previous highest was in 2017, which was 66,845,” VFRS said on X Thursday.
This year has also broken another tragic record, with VFRS crews surpassing “record overdose and fire calls by a significant amount.”
Earlier this week, VFRS warned that its members were experiencing burnout and high levels of stress due to the high number of overdose calls.
“The average per day has gone up and, obviously, as a result, our yearly totals have continually gone up. While there was a slight reduction last year by a small amount — in 2021 being the highest at 7,767 — we have already greatly exceeded that historic number of overdoses,” VFRS public information officer Matt Trudeau told CityNews on Dec. 18.
“They want to go out and help others and this is a very daunting task and uphill battle, for sure … While you make individual efforts to help, the numbers keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger. So it’s incredibly hard on members seeing this level of suffering every day.”
-With files from Srushti Gangdev
