The month of June saw Warman Fire Rescue (WFR) respond to 43 medical, fire and motor vehicle collision emergencies.
That’s “another month of above-average calls,” according to Warman Fire Chief Russ Austin.
In a report to the Warman City Council committee of the whole meeting on July 12, Austin said while the call volume was high, it could have been even higher.
“Rural fire bans helped keep wildland fires at bay, even with the higher-than-average temperatures and dryness,” said Austin. “Medical responses stayed steady and as the month passed so did the responses to COVID-like symptom calls.
“Generally, the numbers and types of calls were right where they were predicted to be statistically speaking, given the month and the current trends in response numbers.”
During the month of June, WFR members responded to 34 medical calls within Warman and two medical calls in the RM of Corman Park. There was one fire within the city and one emergency outside Warman where WFR members were called on to provide mutual aid. There were five instances of smoke or CO detectors going off at residences or businesses in the city that had to be investigated by firefighters.
Warman RCMP officers in Warman were also busy during the month of June, according to a report submitted to the July 12 committee of the whole meeting.
RCMP Sergeant Barry Thomas told council there were 223 calls for service in the City of Warman during June. There were also 31 charges laid in relation to provincial traffic violations.
“We are noticing it is starting to get busier within the City of Warman,” said Thomas. “I looked at June of 2020 stats and that month we only dealt with 141 calls and only four traffic charges were laid.”
Thomas said there were 13 charges laid by police in Warman in June, including three charges of theft under $5,000, four mischief charges, and two for possessing stolen goods.
The RCMP has reinstituted its bike patrol on weekends in the cities of Warman and Martensville.
The RCMP set up a “Black Cat” camera on Crystal Springs Drive between June 12 and 23. Results of that surveillance indicated the need for increased enforcement of speed limits, particularly during certain hours, said Thomas. The report summary stated that a minority (44 per cent) of vehicles obeyed the posted 40 kilometer per hour speed limit.
The report indicated that 45 per cent of the vehicles in the sample travelled at speeds between 41 and 50 kilometers per hour. Another 9.7 per cent were clocked at between 51 and 60 kilometers per hour, and a tiny fraction were recorded at more than 61 kilometers per hour.