A person injured in an assault, a car crashed into a house and a possible overdose make up three of the 195 calls for help made to the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Services 911 communications center while CBC spent time with them last week. last week.

Scott Wilkinson, WFPS deputy chief of rescue and training operations, said the number of calls to first responders has increased in recent years.

“We have seen a huge and significant increase in all of our calls, including our medical response calls, our fire calls and our overall number of rescue incidents,” Wilkinson said.

The number of calls for service for firefighters and paramedics is one reason WFPS is considering changing how it dispatches crews.

“The volume itself is a challenge. I mean we’re facing burnout on the part of some of our people with the volume of calls,” he said. “The types of calls are problematic, we are seeing an increase in violence.”

Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service data shows the number of medical calls for service was 81,241 in 2018. In 2023, the number was 109,558.

Data for 2024 runs from January 1 to September 30.

The number of calls related to fires and rescue operations also increased during this period. The data shows there were 18,966 calls in 2018 and 20,630 in 2023.

2024 fire data includes the first 6 months of the year. WFPS declared that *null reflects reports where the property class is not defined.

Officials say they want to ensure crews are available and can respond to critical emergencies or priority calls in less than nine minutes.

Ryan Sneath, deputy chief of paramedic operations and training, said time-dependent calls, such as a stroke or heart attack, would not change under the department’s new five-priority system.

“So right now our call categories are priority one lights and sirens or priority two without lights and sirens. So we’re going to move to … five priority categories,” he said.

The remainder of the calls will fall into the other four categories based on information provided by callers to those at the WFPS 911 communications center.

In these other categories, crews will not use lights or sirens to get there, Sneath explained. A portion will be paid to a community paramedic at the dispatch center to determine if there is a need to send a team or, if they can be helped over the phone, he said.

“We’ll probably roll it out early in the new year,” Sneath said.

Some calls are already made to a community ambulance.

“Early estimates, before we rolled out this project, is that around 15,000 incidents per year will be assigned to community paramedics,” he said.

Proof of a new system

Sneath said five years of data helped train the new system to ensure it took an evidence-based approach. While this type of system is used in other places, he said it will be a game-changer for Winnipeggers.

“They may not get the traditional lights-and-sirens vehicle response,” he said. “They will receive a response and it will be based on the medical complaint they receive when they call.”

Another reason to switch to the new system is to reduce the number of times crews stop traffic with lights and sirens.

“A lot of research has been done on lights and sirens emergency responses involving emergency vehicles and the accident rates associated with those vehicles,” said Fire and Paramedic Chief Christian Schmidt.

“These types of accidents can result in injury not only to members of the public, but also to emergency personnel. So the approach to this is twofold. Firstly, becoming more efficient, but also allowing us to deploy our vehicles in d ‘a safer way’.

He said a number of factors are driving the increase in calls to Winnipeg firefighters and paramedics, including population growth, an aging population, substance use and socio-economic challenges.

“All of these things come together and contribute in part to the call volume that we see in emergency departments,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt said another change in their response involves working with the Downtown Community Safety Partnership when outreach workers are better positioned to help.

“Our frontline first responders, both at DCSP and the fire department, can talk to each other over the radio about the incidents they are responding to and the people they are going to help,” Schmidt said.

Earlier this month, Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham said he was considering what it would take to get emergency service for mental health calls. Schmidt likes the idea.

“These are the types of programs that are going to help free up emergency responders like paramedics, firefighters and police,” Schmidt said.

“And that will ensure that we put the right resource alongside the patient and, you know, in some cases that will be a mental health clinician.”

He said it is important to work and continue to work with other partners and organizations in the community to meet the needs of Winnipeg.

An evening with some of Winnipeg’s first responders

CBC spent time with some of Winnipeg’s first responders to see their work behind the scenes and also heard how they are working on a new five-priority dispatch system to meet the city’s demands.