Call volumes for Niverville Fire & EMS are on the rise

This summer, Niverville Fire & EMS received more calls than usual. 

Fire Chief Keith Bueckert says that while in previous years everything usually slowed down in summer, their call volume is continuing to climb. 

“Now we have a call a day through the summer. I wish I knew what was going on here, but I think it's just part of being a growing community.” 

This year, Niverville Fire & EMS is only taking care of Niverville.  

They reduced their area of coverage to try to give some of their responders a break in responding to other RMs and Bueckert says it hasn’t been as much of a relief as anticipated. 

“It really hasn't worked out for us because our call volume is basically the same as it was a year ago at this time,” he says. “We had a couple of minor fender benders that we've dealt with through the summer, but the majority of it was either medical, or we've had a few traumatic home instances.” 

Last week they had an information night, which around 12 people came out to. 

Bueckert says they were very happy with the turnout, and they have now moved on to the interview stage. 

“We're interviewing about 15 or 16 people, when it's all said and done four or five positions that we have going on with the fire department.”  

He believes everything will go smoothly. 

“We did this information night to really put into perspective what we do in Niverville and what the commitment is so people can have that opportunity to go, ‘oh, maybe this isn't for me.’ But for the most part, people seem very excited to try the process out and we're looking forward to getting to interview these people.” 

For the time being, Bueckert says they are comfortable with the 35 members they have, and plan to stay in the 35 to 40 member mark. 

“These people are more than likely going to be in our resource pool, which they can still respond to calls and do all that kind of stuff here in Niverville.” 

He notes they don’t have any news regarding the fire hall just yet. 

“I can't say that I've heard a whole lot, but our planning session is coming up here with council. And we have a good dialogue with them, I think they're aware of what's going on. They see what we have and what our needs are.” 

Bueckert is extremely thankful for the team and Niverville Fire & EMS. 

“I tip my hat to the men and women here, it is a lot that they are doing and our community is lucky to have these people that dedicate their spare time and even the time that they don't have at times to making sure that everybody's looked after.” 

With files from Adi Loewen 

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