Responding to incidents
Our highly trained firefighters respond to a wide range of incidents, including vehicle accidents, rescues, medical emergencies, and fires of all types — from structure blazes to fires in vehicles and boats.
2023 Categorized Incident Call Outs
How We Measure Total Response Times
What is 'Total Response Time'? — This is the time elapsed from when the 911 call is answered to when the fire engine arrives at the street address and includes call processing time, turnout time and travel time.
Dispatch Performance
The Surrey Fire Regional Dispatch Centre continues to provide top-quality service to the DNVFRS and District residents. The graph below demonstrates how Surrey Dispatch’s call processing and dispatch times have continually met and exceeded service expectations over the past five years.
Dispatch performance is based on call processing, which captures the time between the call for service being received and fire/rescue resources being alerted and assigned to the incident. As described previously, the 90th percentile means that nine times out of 10, we meet or exceed the times indicated.
Turnout Time by Incident
Turnout time measures the firefighters’ ability to stop what they are doing, get to the appropriate fire engine, put on their personal protective equipment, board the fire engine, and safely secure themselves for travel to the emergency.
Response Time by Fire Station
Our firefighters respond to incidents from one — or more — of five strategically situated fire stations, depending on the emergency’s location and size.
Response time is the time that elapses between when the fire department receives a call and the first arrival of firefighters on the scene.
Today’s homes are filled with synthetic materials that include modern plastics, glues, and hydrocarbon-based products that produce 200 times more smoke and burn eight times faster than homes from 50 years ago. What used to take 30 minutes to engulf a room in fire now takes three minutes, underscoring the importance of strategically placed firehalls for timely response and the emphasis on fire prevention education.
Response to Medical Emergency Service Assists (MESA)
DNVFRS responds to numerous Medical Emergency Service Assists (MESA) every year. Our members are well equipped with the proper personal protective equipment (PPE) for the various situations they encounter. All DNVFRS members are trained in first aid at varying levels depending on their role in the department.
DNVFRS members also respond to many Motor Vehicle Incidents (MVIs) on local streets and the portion of Highway 1 that runs through North Vancouver.
Since 2020, BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) has used its Clinical Response Model for Medical Emergency Service Assists (MESA) calls, as outlined below. This change was made to ensure the patients with the most challenging medical conditions were better prioritized. This new system also aligned first responders and fire departments to provide patients with the most appropriate care and utilize resources effectively. These colour-coded medical call categories are also explained in the diagram below.
A Closer Look at Technical Rescues
Unsurprisingly, the District is a popular outdoor playground for visitors and locals alike.
Our community’s urban core is surrounded by hundreds of square kilometres of rugged mountain wilderness, etched with a vast network of hiking and mountain biking trails and fast-moving rivers.
We’re also home to Grouse Mountain and Seymour Mountain ski operations and the Grouse Grind, BC Mountaineering Club and Baden Powell trail systems. The DNVFRS team has honed specialized skills due to the number of highly technical rescues we conduct each year and developed a close mutual support relationship with the all-volunteer North Shore Rescue (NSR) team.
In 2023, we attended 81 rescue incidents, 53% of which occurred on Mount Fromme, Mount Seymour and Lynn Canyon.
Typical Rescues Occuring on the North Shore
In 2023, outdoor recreation-related accidents and emergencies in our forested area involving hikers, mountain bikers, swimmers, kayakers and other users dominated rescue calls at nearly 88%.
Technical rope rescues were next at 4%. DNVFRS firefighters are trained to meet and, in many cases, exceed industry standards in high-angle rope rescues and swift-water rescue techniques, which are used every summer in Lynn Canyon, Capilano Canyon, and Quarry Rock in Deep Cove.
In response to the volume and complexity of rescue calls in recent years, we have equipped our three new wildland trucks with rescue equipment and medical gear to respond effectively to outdoor recreation-related emergencies.
Responding to Marine Emergencies with Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue
We are fortunate to have dedicated volunteers from the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue (RCMSAR) serving the North Shore community. We work closely with RCMSAR in incident response and proactive training operations. Our collaborative efforts include:
- Transporting firefighters and equipment to remote or boat-only access locations
- Offering water-based support for shore-based emergency operations
- Conducting water rescues in areas inaccessible to firefighters
Our approach to information sharing and joint training capitalizes on the unique strengths of each agency. This collaboration involves preplanning and preparation for accessing communities like Cascades, Sunshine Falls, and Woodlands along the Indian Arm. Our proactive planning allows us to respond to specific events within our distinct geographical environment.
Get more information about North Vancouver Royal Canadian Marine Search & Rescue
Working with North Shore Rescue
Our close partnership with North Shore Rescue (NSR) enables us to leverage the expertise of both organizations to ensure that community members and visitors to our municipality receive optimal care during emergencies.
In late 2023, we collaborated with North Shore Emergency Management (NSEM), North Vancouver RCMP, West Vancouver Police, and our local fire departments to develop a comprehensive response area map for wildland incidents.
This initiative aims to provide British Columbia Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) and Fire Dispatch with clear delineations of responsibility. By streamlining this process, calls are quickly directed to the appropriate agency, facilitating collaborative responses among neighbouring agencies and response areas during critical emergencies.
Our partnership with NSR has been strengthened with the introduction of a new mapping app, CalTopo. This a platform offers a collaborative mapping tool that is accessible online and offline, enabling responding agencies to use a shared map.
As crews from DNVFRS and NSR react to an incident, our teams will appear live on the shared map. This ensures that both Incident Command and field response teams know their progress in real-time, enhancing staff safety during incidents and enabling us to provide more precise estimates of arrival times and patient extraction timelines for BCEHS.