With 911 call volumes rising, Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service develops new 5-priority dispatch system

A person injured in an assault, a car crashing into a house and a possible overdose made up three of the 195 calls for help made to the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic 911 Communications Centre while CBC spent time with them last week.

Scott Wilkinson, the deputy chief of fire rescue operations and training for the WFPS, said the number of calls to first responders has increased in recent years. 

"We've seen a vast, a significant increase in all of our calls, including our medical response calls, our fire calls and our overall number of rescue incidents as well," said Wilkinson. 

The amount of calls for service for firefighters and paramedics is one reason the WFPS plans to change how it dispatches crews.

"The volume itself is a challenge, I mean we're experiencing burnout by some of our staff with the amount of volumes of calls," he said. "The types of calls are an issue, we're seeing an uptick in violence."

Data from the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service shows the number of medical-related calls for service was 81,241 in 2018. In 2023, that number was 109,558. 

Data for 2024 ranges from Jan. 1 to Sept. 30.

The number of calls related to fires and rescue operations during that time also increased. The data shows there were 18,966 calls in 2018 and 20,630 in 2023.

Data for fires in 2024 includes first 6 months of the year. WFPS said *null reflects reports where the property class is not defined.

Officials say they want to ensure crews are available and can get to critical emergencies or priority one calls in under nine minutes.

Ryan Sneath, deputy chief of paramedic operations and training, said those-time dependent calls, such as a stroke or heart attack, won't change under the service's new five-priority system.

"So right now our call categories are priority one lights and sirens or priority two no lights and sirens. And so we'll be shifting to ... five priority categories," he said.

The rest of the calls will fit into the other four categories based on the information given by callers to those at the WFPS 911 Communications Centre.

In those other categories, crews won't use lights and sirens to get there, Sneath explained. A portion will go to a community paramedic in the dispatch centre to determine whether it's necessary to send out a team, or, if they can be helped over the phone, he said.   

"We'll likely roll it out early in the new year," said Sneath. 

Some calls already go to a community paramedic. 

"Early estimates before we roll this out is about 15,000 incidents a year will go to those community paramedics," he said. 

Evidence for new system

Sneath said five years of data helped shape the new system to ensure they're taking an evidence-based approach. While this type of system is used in some other places, he said it will be a change for people in Winnipeg.

"They may not get their traditional response of the lights-and-sirens vehicle," he said. "They will get a response and it will be based on what their medical complaint is when they phone."

Another reason for changing to the new system is to cut down the number of times crews are cutting through traffic with lights and sirens. 

"There is an amount of research that has been conducted in terms of lights and sirens emergency-type responses involving emergency vehicles and associated rates of accidents with those vehicles," said Fire and Paramedic Chief Christian Schmidt.

"Those types of accidents can result in injury to not only members of the public, but also to the emergency personnel. So really the move toward this is twofold. One, to become more efficient, but also to allow us to deploy our vehicles in a safer manner."  

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He said there's a number of factors driving the rise in calls to Winnipeg's firefighters and paramedics including population growth, an aging population, substance use and socioeconomic challenges.  

"All these things come together and they do drive some of the call volume that we're seeing in emergency services," said Schmidt. 

Schmidt said another shift in their response involves working with the Downtown Community Safety Partnership when outreach workers are better suited to help.  

"Our front-line first responders both at DCSP and at fire paramedic service can talk to one another over the radio channels regarding the incidents that they're responding to and the people that they're going out to help," said Schmidt. 

Earlier this month, Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham said he's considering what it would take to get an emergency service for mental health calls. Schmidt likes the idea.

"It's these types of programs that are going to help free up emergency response services like paramedics, fire and police," said Schmidt.

"And it's going to ensure that we get the right resource to the patient's side and, you know, in some cases that it is going to be a mental health clinician." 

He said it's important to work with and continue working other partners and agencies in the community to meet Winnipeg's needs.