It’s called the Saskatoon Fire Department but responding to fires isn’t all they do. In fact, the most recent statistics state that in 2023, the Fire Department responded to over 25,000 calls but only around 5,000 were fire-related. And, Fire Chief Doug Wegren says the number of calls they respond to has increased dramatically in the past few years. He states that the number of calls in total represents a 15 per cent increase compared to 2022 and a 57 per cent increase since 2019.

About 20 years ago, the Fire Department branched out to add paramedics to the team and then later added EMTs. Most recently, this past July, the former Community Support Officers for the Riversdale, Broadway and Downtown Business Districts came under the Fire Department’s purview. “We have 12 people. Presently we have ten and were are hiring two more on January 6th, so we will have our full complement. They deal with the Downtown, Broadway and Riversdale Business Improvement Districts and they support Transit.” The FCS team reaches out to the city’s most vulnerable and tries to connect them to community-based organizations. Fire Inspectors and Fire Bylaw officers are also involved in community support, doing proactive work to prevent fires and working with those who are in encampments.

Chief Wegren says because the City is growing, two new stations are being planned, and will hopefully be opening late 2026 or early 2027.
One will be built on Dawes Avenue in the Southwest and one will be in the Northwest, but a location hasn’t been finalized yet.