Traffic appears to be a leading cause of increased response times for the Puslinch Fire Department.
As deputy fire chief Steve Goode presented the department’s monthly report, Mayor Dennis Lever noted the October report showed the average response time was 13.4 minutes, with an average of eight firefighters responding.
Goode said in comparison to this time last year, the tiered response calls, motor vehicle collisions and building fire numbers are down.
However, Goode explained the calls which are up include cancelled responses, nothing found responses and automatic alarms.
He said the automatic alarms are associated with the fact that Puslinch is growing.
At the same time, Goode said the township has a ‘robust’ invoicing system.
After two false alarms, the owner is charged $410 per vehicle – “and generally three vehicles respond to the locations.”
He added “We haven’t had any issues in collecting.”
Goode added that generally there are not too many instances of properties exceeding the two false alarms.
He agreed that response times have increased and have been climbing up over the years.
The reason, Goode said, is traffic.
“Highway 6 is kicking our butts in response times.”
He said it holds especially true in incidents where fire vehicles must travel through Morriston or in the Puslinch Lake area or for responses on Highway 401.
Goode added that many of the calls are on Highway 401.
“Firefighters have to travel through that traffic … and it is getting worse.”
He hopes to see some of this addressed in the Fire Master Plan which is in the works.
Goode noted that fire losses are up by $1.7 million, however $1.5 million of that is attributed to a heavy machine which caught on fire in one of the local gravel pits.
In referring to specific calls from the October report, Goode noted that on Oct. 25, there were three serious incidents which took over nine hours of firefighter time.
“It was very taxing emotionally and physically.”
The first call was on Brock Road in the early morning for a head-on collision.
“Fortunately no one was injured, but there was quite a bit of debris on the roadway and because of the weather, firefighters were required to stand by for an hour-and-a-half assisting the OPP to ensure the scene was protected.”
Later in the afternoon there was a fatal plane crash near Puslinch Lake.
Goode said Cambridge Fire Department initially was on the scene, but because the call took over one hour, the Puslinch department was brought in for several hours.
The crash involved a Puslinch resident.
Goode added the plane crash site developed some issues because the plane was lying on top of hydro and telephone lines and leaking fuel.
“A lot of the time was spent protecting the site for the investigators.”
Then the site had to be stabilized to extract the victim, he said.
While this was happened, the department was required to respond to yet another incident involving a car fire near Concession 7
The firefighters arrived with the OPP.
Both groups believed the fire to be suspicious.
“It was a pretty tough day for the firefighters,” Goode said.
“Fortunately there were enough firefighters to deal with both incidents.”
He added that two firefighters’ spouses manned the phones for several hours to help out.
Goode noted that, for him, the highest number of calls responded to in a single day was nine – one of which was a house fire.
Just recently, there was a good News story for the department
While firefighters were training at the hall on a Tuesday morning, there was a call in for a person not breathing with no pulse.
“They responded, and were in fact able to be on the scene within four minutes.”
They assisted paramedics and were able to bring the person back to life.
“That was good to hear.”
Councillor Susan Fielding commented on the traffic affecting how fast firefighters can respond to a call.
Fielding referenced a citizen initiative in Morriston to get traffic-calming and other measures in Morriston.
“It’s getting worse coming south from Morriston. It never used to be an issue.”
She noted representatives from Duff’s Church report trouble exiting the driveway.
Fielding believed this too should be brought up in Ministry of Transportation discussions regarding relieving traffic congestion in Morriston.
“It affects the safety of all the people in Puslinch – not just those living along Highway 6.”
Goode noted this was the first save as a result of the defibrillator – because they were able to get to the person within four-and-a-half minutes.
“It’s crucial to be able to respond within four to six minutes.”
Fielding commented “It is sad to think there might be someone in distress and (emergency personnel) can’t get to them because they are stuck in traffic.
“It’s not right.”
Goode noted there are other places in the township where traffic is also an issue.
“We have to see if there is anything we can do to resolve that,” Goode said.
Fielding noted that on a recent Tuesday morning, it took roughly 16 minutes for her to be able to make a left hand turn to exit her driveway (along Highway 6).
