🆘The numbers are not adding up🆘
WFD responded to 4 structure fires on Saturday alone!!
Our crews are desperate and begging for resources as call volumes continue to skyrocket.
With less staff and apparatus on duty then Winnipeg had over 30 years ago, our firefighters can simply no longer keep up.🧮
A 2018 review showed:
➡️ Only 72% of emergencies had a unit arrive within 4 minutes— well below the 90% NFPA benchmark.
➡️ Travel time for full alarm response averaged 8:51, exceeding safe standards by nearly a minute!! ⏰
Since this review took place, Call volumes have increased dramatically – Between 2019 and 2023:
🚨Structure fires increased from 1,804 to 3,680 — an 87% jump
🚨Medical calls increased from 85,000 to 105,000 — a 23% rise
🚨Vacant structure fires increased from 58 in 2018 to 200 in 2024 – a 244.8% increase
There has been no corresponding increase in resources 🤯
Shockingly, the WFPS recently released a memo indicating they would further reduce the number of apparatus on duty effective June 2025, striking a downtown truck that runs 7000 calls per year out of service without replacement.
By the services own estimate – this will increase call colume by over 40% for the remaining trucks at station 1.
As summer (our busiest time of the year) quickly approaches, UFFW has a warning and plea for officials:
Please send help.
The cost of continued inaction will be measured in further injury or loss of life to firefighters and the public we are doing our best to serve.😔
