This past month your fire department was sent to eight calls:
At 3:55 p.m. on Christmas Day crews were sent to a call of alarms ringing. This proved to be a malfunctioning smoke detector and was ruled a false alarm and the fire department was stood down.
Shortly after noon on December 31 nearly all the members responded to a two-vehicle accident south of town at the intersection of Twp. Rd. 40-2 and RR 1-2. A southbound vehicle and one heading west had collided and sent both into the south ditch, overturning one of them in the process. The driver of the upended car was trapped and required extrication. Firefighters carefully cut out the patient and both drivers were examined by EMS while traffic was managed at the scene. One patient was sent to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
At 8 p.m. that same evening fifteen members responded to a Mutual Aid call from Eckville for a structure fire in their area. This was confirmed to be a controlled burn and Bentley was stood down.
Eighteen firefighters were awakened at 2:37 in the morning on New Year's Day to a Mutual Aid request from Sylvan Lake FD for a structure fire near Sunbreaker Cove. Bentley's Tender was required to shuttle water to the rural location. Fortunately, all of the occupants were out of the home and as the house was nearly engulfed a defensive attack was used to keep the fire from spreading to neighbouring properties.
At noon on January 2 thirteen members responded to another alarms call, this time at a Bentley home. All the residents wisely evacuated to a neighbour's to call 911. The basement carbon monoxide detector had activated so ATCO was notified and the BFD checked for elevated levels of CO2. None was found so a new detector was given to the homeowner and crew members stayed at the scene until ATCO arrived to investigate.
Early in the morning on January 3 crews were sent to an MVA on Highway 12A, immediately west of the train tracks. The eastbound truck was found just off the road and into the snowy south ditch with the driver found unconscious inside. The vehicle was stabilized, the driver was roused and sent into the care of attending EMS. The BFD handled the minor early-morning traffic and was later released by the RCMP.
On January 7 at 10:36 p.m. crews were sent to another alarms call in Bentley where the resident had accidentally activated the alarm while cleaning. After speaking with the homeowner this was deemed a false alarm and members returned to the hall.
And on January 14 at 3:26 in the afternoon seven members responded to a call to assist EMS with a Bentley resident. The patient was carefully loaded into the ambulance and one firefighter drove it to the hospital while paramedics attended to the patient in the back for the trip.
Firefighters were called out early on Saturday, December 29 for a mock "ice rescue" scenario at the Lacombe County pond where 5 people had fallen through the ice. Members practiced their techniques and re-certified while the newest recruits learned ice rescue skills.
2018 was another busy year for your fire department with call volume down just slightly from 2017 at 81 calls from December 1, 2017 to December 1, 2018. The calls are as follows:
Structure Fires: 2
Outside Fires: 15
Motor Vehicle Accidents: 10
Vehicle Fires: 5
EMS Assists: 6
Citizen Assists: 1
Alarms Ringing: 11
Electrical Hazards: 1
Gas Leak: 1
Ice/Water Rescue: 1
Boat Rescue: 2
Mutual Aid: 26 (mutual aid to Lacombe, Eckville, Rimbey and Ponoka West)
