While an emergency call prevented him from walking councillors through it, Dauphin fire chief Cam Abrey submitted his report outlining the first seven months of fire department operations to City council at its Aug. 31 regular meeting.
From Jan.1 to July 31, DFD responded to 171 calls for service, about an eight per cent increase over the same time period in 2025.
The report indicated that false alarms remain the most frequent reason the department is dispatched with 51 incidents - 30 per cent of calls - during the first seven months of the year. Motor vehicle collisions continue to be the second largest volume of calls with 33 received so far in 2026, which amounts to 19 per cent of dispatches.
Structure fires accounted for 12 per cent of responses, while outdoor fires made up six per cent, kitchen fires four per cent, EMS lift assists five per cent and carbon monoxide alarms at three per cent.
The catchall category of “other”, at 17 per cent, saw an increase over previous years.
“This category typically includes incidents such as hazardous materials, elevator rescues, items that don’t necessarily require a category of their own as there are not very many in a typical year,” the report read.
“For this report, however, we included the calls related to the flooding of July 1, that DFD responded to.”
During that one day, DFD responded to 18 separate incidents, 13 of which were specifically for callers reporting flood related incidents. The remainder were for lift assists, downed hydro lines, mutual aid assistance and the evacuation of Dauphin Regional Health Centre.
When broken down by jurisdiction, 87 per cent of all calls -148 in total - were responses inside the city - including all vehicle collision responses regardless of where they occurred. The city has always paid for the motor vehicle collision response regardless of the location, the report said, as the fire chief looks after any eligible claims with Manitoba Public Insurance.
Twelve per cent of all dispatches were in the RM, while mutual aid calls accounted for one per cent of responses.
Broken down further, 2,511.5 firefighters hours were expended on city responses, about 74 per cent of all hours recorded. Again, those numbers include all hours spent on vehicle collision responses, regardless of where they occurred, the report said.
When it comes to staffing, Dauphin Fire Department currently boosts its highest membership in several years, Abrey indicated in his report, with 16 members participating in level I firefighter training this fall.
On the flip side, however, Abrey indicated the department lost one of its captains as Cameron Popiel resigned from the department as he is relocating to Brandon.
“Cam came to DFD in March 2018 and quickly rose through the ranks attaining his level I and II firefighter qualifications, as well as completing a number of other training seminars,” Abrey wrote in his report.
“He was promoted to lieutenant in 2022 and then captain in 2025 and will definitely be missed by all.”
Training
At the end of July, DFD celebrated Ryan Murray, Nicholas Shmon, Jesse Shuttleworth, Samuel Smith, and Oleksiy Vlasov after they successfully completed level I firefighter training. As a result, the department now has 24 members with level I and/or II certifications.
The department has also hosted some training seminars on behalf of the mutual aid district including school bus rescue training, May 29 to 31, involving local firefighters, as well as firefighters from Ethelbert, Roblin and Swan River.
On Aug. 28 and 29, 24 firefighters from across the mutual aid district took part in a heavy rescue seminar, learning skills required for incidents involving larger vehicles such as tractor trailers and other motor vehicles.
A number of other specialized programs are planned for the coming months including Critical Incident Stress Management, Fire Department Safety Officer, Fire Ground Management, and other seminars related to operating department equipment.