City of Surrey's Annual Financial Report 2021

CITY OF SURREY OVERVIEWS FIRE DEPARTMENT

The Surrey Fire Service’s mission is to protect life, property and the environment by responding to emergencies, ensuring regulatory compliance and developing community education. Surrey Fire Service helps to make our City a safe place to live.

SURREY EMERGENCY PROGRAM Surrey’s Emergency Program includes Neighbourhood Emergency Preparedness Program (NEPP); Business Emergency Preparedness Program (BEPP); Surrey Emergency Program Amateur Radio (SEPAR); Surrey Search and Rescue (SSAR); and Emergency Social Services (ESS), Level One: Personal Disaster Assistance. Through these programs, City staff and the large network of volunteers provide valuable community emergency services. OPERATIONS Operations is the largest division and is responsible for emergency medical services, fire suppression and hazardous materials response and rescue activities. In addition to the above activities handled by the Suppression branch, the Operations division is also responsible for the Prevention branch and the Training branch. Through these programs, City staff and the large network of volunteers provide valuable community emergency services.

EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS Communications provide emergency dispatch services to 41 different communities across BC. Providing computer-aided dispatch services and radio support for fire and medical responses. By operating a regional dispatch service, efficiencies are achieved for the benefit of all participants.

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• Continued to work on behalf of the City Manager and BC Emergency Health Services to establish collaborative working groups to seek alternative, efficient approaches for Fire Services and Ambulance Services involvement in responding to medical emergencies in Surrey. • Facilitated Women in Firefighting workshops throughout the year to develop diverse candidates for firefighter recruitment. • 43% of dispatch and firefighter recruits hired in 2021 were diverse candidates. • Completed staff training that focused on the importance of inclusivity and maintaining a respectful workplace.

• An indicator of the success of the HomeSafe program is assessing whether a smoke alarm unit was functioning at the time of a residential fire. Since 2006, the rate of working smoke alarms at fires have increased from 25% to 69.9% in 2021. • Inspected 8,409 business properties and provided 7,834 safety educational inspection pamphlets to the business proprietors. This ongoing process bolsters the City's efforts to improve fire code compliance and the resiliency of businesses. • During the COVID-19 pandemic, Surrey Emergency Preparedness presentation was delivered to attendees through a virtual platform. • The Business Emergency Preparedness Program delivered 7,834 disaster recovery educational pamphlets.

• Coordinated 24 Level 1 Emergency Support Service ("ESS") responses for 98 displaced residents at single family dwellings. There were 2 ESS Level 2 team responses for 2021 which supported 321 displaced residents at multi-residential dwellings. • Installed 459 smoke alarms at single family residences during HomeSafe inspections, including 12,953 smoke alarm verification tests. • Successfully delivered basic EOC training to 133 city staff, committing 2,064 hours of emergency management skill development to achieve the overall goal of improving City’s emergency preparedness through increased EOC training. • Collaboration with Fraser Health, Police and BCEHS continues to support the mitigation of the opioid crisis through real-time overdose tracking and improved resource deployment.

• Reduced fire related death and injuries at residential properties through the continued

deployment of the HomeSafe Program. This program increases the number of working smoke alarms in residential structures.

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