Kamloops Fire Rescue sees dramatic drop in structure fires in first quarter of 2023

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops Fire Rescue provided its first quarter number to city council on Tuesday (June 6). The report comes as the city is expecting a hot stretch of weather over the next week, with Deputy Chief Ryan Cail calling fire conditions in the region ‘volatile’.

Due to public concern, the KFR fire prevention team has already completed 16 voluntary FireSmart inspections of properties in the first quarter 2023. That figure is a 700 per cent increase over the first quarter of 2022.

“Structure fires have been reported as down by a total of 19 per cent and property loss fires decreasing by 96 per cent — which is a huge stat for us,” reported Cail. “Total dollar loss decreasing by 97 per cent, that is a great stat for KFR. The overall increase (in calls) is due to the increase in fire-related and medical responses. Fire-related have increased the 26 per cent… over the same period over 2022 and 61 per cent from 2021.”