When you call 911 in Prince George for a medical emergency, there’s a strong chance a multi-ton, full-sized Prince George Fire Rescue (PGFR) primary engine arrives at your door.
Nobody is questioning the dedication or skill of our firefighters, they are world-class professionals who step up every single day to keep our city safe. But as a city, we need to ask ourselves a fundamental logistical question: Does it make sense to dispatch a $1.2-million heavy fire engine with a four-to-six-person crew to handle basic medical stabilization calls?
Right now, municipal taxpayers are footing the bill for an operational mismatch that burns through tax dollars, puts unnecessary wear on critical equipment, and distracts from core firefighting readiness.
The Numbers Speak for Themselves
Our current emergency dispatch system is operating under massive strain:
- 61% of Fire Calls Are Medical: Official reports presented to City Council show that over six out of every ten dispatches for PGFR are for medical emergencies, while actual structural fires account for roughly 26%.
- Overdoses Driving Call Volume: Prince George consistently ranks among the highest municipalities in BC for toxic drug and overdose responses, with local emergency crews responding to over 1,400 to 1,800 drug toxicity events annually.
- High Cancelation Rates: On roughly 40% of medical dispatches, fire crews arrive and leave without providing treatment or are canceled en route because paramedics arrive or the situation resolves. Yet, the heavy engine was still rolled out of the station.
- Provincial Cost Downloading: Healthcare is legally a provincial responsibility under BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS). Because of provincial paramedic shortages, Prince George property taxpayers are paying out of pocket to run a de facto municipal secondary ambulance service without proper reimbursement from Victoria.
The Solution: 1-Ton Rapid Medical Rigs & Firefighter-Paramedics
We don’t need to cut medical response, we need to right-size the machinery.
Instead of sending primary pumper trucks to routine medical calls, Prince George should shift toward deploying lightweight, 1-ton rapid-response medical trucks out of our stations, crewed by dual-trained firefighter-paramedics.
Here is why this operational change makes immediate financial and practical sense:
- Massive Fleet Savings: Operating a 1-ton utility rig costs a fraction per kilometer compared to a primary pumper or ladder truck. We drastically reduce fuel consumption and preserve multi-million-dollar heavy engines for actual structure fires and heavy rescues.
- Faster, Agile Response: Smaller response units navigate tight downtown alleys, parkades, and congested residential streets far more efficiently than massive ladder trucks.
- Heavy Engines Stay Ready: Keeping primary engines stationed in their zones ensures that when a real structure fire breaks out, our heavy crews are 100% available, eliminating delayed response times caused by engines being tied up at routine medical calls.
- Drawing a Line on Provincial Downloading: Right-sizing our municipal fleet caps local expenditures today, giving City Hall the exact operational leverage needed to demand fair provincial compensation for pre-hospital care.
Operational Discipline at City Hall
Fixing municipal spending doesn’t always mean cutting services; it means applying basic equipment-to-task logic. If a job requires a screwdriver, you don’t buy a sledgehammer.
By modernizing PGFR’s fleet deployment and leaning into specialized firefighter-paramedic crews on agile rigs, we protect our city’s primary assets, deliver faster emergency care, and stop burning municipal property tax dollars on misaligned logistics.
The Unfunded Mandate: What It’s Costing Prince George
Healthcare is legally a provincial responsibility, yet Victoria has turned local municipal property taxes into an unfunded subsidy for BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS).
Consider what our taxpayers are quietly absorbing:
- Escalating Direct Supplies: City Hall reports show that local property taxpayer spending on basic medical and first aid supplies for PGFR escalated over 2.5 times, jumping from $28,000 to nearly $70,000 annually, just to cover the surge in local health calls and overdose responses.
- Massive Operational Wear and Labor Costs: With over 5,000 to 6,000 medical calls handled by PGFR annually, millions in municipal operating dollars, fuel, and equipment degradation are diverted to pre-hospital care without a single dollar in provincial reimbursement.
- City Council Admitted the Problem: Prince George City Council previously passed a resolution through the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) demanding the Province introduce a compensation model to reimburse local fire departments for providing emergency healthcare services.
City Hall knows local taxpayers are being taken for a ride by Victoria, but passing resolutions isn’t enough—we need operational changes on our streets to stop the bleeding today.
My Commitment as Your City Councillor
I’m not interested in managing the status quo or watching local property taxes climb while basic services fall behind.Having sat on two separate mayoral committees under two different city administrations, I’ve seen firsthand how city hall operates. In those roles, I always fought to bring practical operational awareness to the table, opening eyes to common-sense options that administration simply had not considered.
As your Councillor, I’m bringing that same operational discipline directly to the council floor. I am accountable first and foremost to the taxpayers who elect me, and my job is to ensure my fellow councillors clearly understand the operational imperatives required to keep this city cost-effective. We don’t have to accept short-sighted administrative recommendations. By introducing agile response units, optimizing PGFR deployment, and forcing Victoria to cover its health care responsibilities, we can protect both our first responders and our taxpayers.
Prince George doesn’t need more generic political talk; it needs proven operational leadership that isn’t afraid to challenge the script. That is exactly what I will deliver.