P.E.I. fire departments responding to 55% more medical calls

Fire departments outside Charlottetown and Summerside are now responding to as many medical calls as fire calls, says the P.E.I. Firefighters Association.

In 2010, fire departments answered 550 medical-related calls. That number is nowmore than 850 a year.

The number of calls is putting stress on some fire departments, which in some cases are not able to meet the expectation to respond.

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Jason Peters, president of the P.E.I. Firefighters Association, said every medical call they answer is also attended by an ambulance, but he thinks there would be less demand on firefighters if there were more ambulances outside the cities.

"In an ideal world, it would be nice to have a lot more ambulances across P.E.I., [so] that volunteer firefighters aren't being tasked out with so many times with [medical] calls," said Peters.

"You have to decide what you'd like to do with your department and what you want to offer for services."

Peters said the province has never demanded that firefighters respond to medical calls, but it is just something firefighters have wanted to train for in order to help out.

Provincial officials plan to talk to volunteer firefighters about the increasing number of calls they're getting for medical emergencies.