Arran-Elderslie’s annual fire department report says the municipality saw a bit of an increase in calls.
Fire Chief Steve Tiernan delivered the report to council January 27th.
In 2024, Arran-Elderslie firefighters responded to 190 calls for service in 2024.
That was an increase in calls compared to 168 in 2023.
Tiernan’s report says there were 13 more calls than the year before in Tara (55 total) and an increase of nine calls in Chesley (77 total). Paisley remained the same as 2023 (58 calls).
Plans for a new Paisley fire hall and public works building moved along and the municipality awarded the construction work to Domm Construction and the site work to Dozlan Construction.
The department also successfully applied for a number of grants including a Fire Protection Grant cancer prevention grant of nearly $25,000, and a Community Emergency Preparedness Grant for a drone of $26,460.
Firefighters took part in a number of training activiuties including live-fire training, first aid, and trainign for the new drone program.
They also did education and prevention visits around the community and hosted visits from local school children at their stations. Other events included the Farmers Market public education booth at the downtown park in Chesley, the Chesley Fall Fair Junior Firefighter Olympics and public education booth, the Chesley Water Festival the Paisley Halloween Safety tour and the Paisley fair as well as the Tara Firehall open house Auto Extrication and Drone demonstration and Tara Fall Fair.