The Fire Chief for Hanover says 2016 was an average year for calls.

Paul Wiebe says last year they had 226 calls for service. Kleefeld responded to 59 calls, Grunthal 54, New Bothwell 45 and Steinbach responded to 68 calls for service within the Blumenort

and Mitchell areas.

Wiebe says 35 per cent of all calls last year were for motor vehicle collisions.

"That is high," he says.

In an average year, that is closer to 30 per cent. He says a lot of these incidents don't amount to anything more than a call for a tow truck. But he says with higher traffic counts in the municipality, there are simply more collisions.

Wiebe says firefighters responded to one fatal crash in 2016, which happened November 19 along Highway 52 near Randolph.

"Highway 52 is probably our busiest roadway for crashes," notes Wiebe. "I guess secondary to that would be highway 59, especially around the 305 intersection is a bad one."

Wiebe says structure and grass fires were down from 2015, but he says there were a fair number of kitchen fires. There was one house fire last year that resulted in a total loss. It happened February 26 south of Friedensfeld.

Of the 226 calls last year, 35 per cent were motor vehicle collisions, 30 per cent were fires, 15 per cent were alarms, 15 per cent were assists and 5 per cent were various other calls.

Meanwhile, Wiebe says in 2016 they purchased a new rescue truck for the Grunthal fire hall, which should arrive in June 2017. They also ran a successful Firefighter Level 2 course, graduating eight firefighters. In addition to that, a training weekend was held in fall, with 24 out of their 52 firefighters participating.

The Grunthal hall still does not have Jaws Of Life. But Wiebe says that is okay because with Kleefeld responding to all serious crashes, they usually arrive only minutes after Grunthal. He notes there is a huge cost in adding Jaws, and yet the number of times they use this equipment is dropping with new protocols for EMS. Wiebe says any time a crash victim is able to walk to the Ambulance, they are encouraged to, rather than cutting open the vehicle in order to bring in a spinal board.

Read More:

House Total Loss After Fire

Update For Highway 52 Head-On Collision