Emergency services on Gabriola seeing rise in call volume

Derek Kilbourn

Sounder News

Call volumes for all of Gabriola’s emergency response agencies continue to climb.

BC Emergency Health Services (which runs BC Ambulance Service), as well as Gabriola Volunteer Fire Department, and the Gabriola RCMP Detachment, shared their year over year statistics with the Sounder recently. 2023 was the busiest year ever for all three agencies.

Of the three, the GVFD has seen the biggest increase in calls-for-service over the last four years (since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic).

2020 itself was a low point for the GVFD in call volume, with only 343 calls coming in, compared to 402 in 2019. For part of 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a decrease in the number of medical calls in which BC EHS requested GVFD to attend.

Since 2020, the call volume has increased almost 40% from 2019 levels, with 464 callouts in 2021, 554 in 2022, and 562 in 2023.

Over 2022 and 2023, medical callouts working with BC EHS have made up over half of the yearly total calls for the GVFD.

August 2023 was the busiest month ever for the GVFD, with 85 calls for service – half of which were medical calls, as well as 30 burn complaints (complaints dealing with people burning contrary to seasonal fire regulations).

In 2019, the Gabriola RCMP detachment had received 930 calls for service. That rose to 1003 in 2020. There were 986 in 2021, 940 in 2022, and in 2023, the detachment had 1137 calls. This represents a 22% increase in calls for the three-person Detachment.

Cpl. Jordan Mullen, Gabriola Detachment Commander said there has been a large increase in thefts reported to police in 2023, which is largely attributed to marine thefts, including outer Islands in the Gabriola service area.

“Our files have also increased due to proactive patrols conducted in the Marine environment, due largely in part to seasonal policing conducted on our waters with money supplemented to us from the Province. With a lot of the proactive work done in 2023, it has increased our charges recommended to Crown. Gabriola members have recommended charges to numerous individuals caught in possession of stolen property or stealing items in the marine environment. Members have also conducted road checks and other proactive patrols, which has resulted in numerous prohibited drivers been arrested and charged.”

BC Ambulance on Gabriola also hit the busiest year on record – though of the three agencies, it has seen less of an increase than RCMP or GVFD – with 30 more calls coming in compared to 2019, a 3% increase. 2023 saw the ambulance respond to 684 patient events on Gabriola Island. Media representatives with BC EHS said of those, 176 were of the ‘immediately life threatening’ events.

In 2022, BC EHS ambulances responded to 668 events on Gabriola, 145 of which were immediately life threatening. 2021 saw 655 patient events, 131 of which were immediately life-threatening. 2019 saw 659 patient events.

BC EHS media representatives said of the of the 684 patient events, 13 involved off-island transport by air ambulance helicopter; 384 involved off-island transport by a combination of ground ambulance as well as other transport including ferry or water taxi; 105 involved ground ambulance transport within the island (such as to the Urgent Care Clinic at the Gabriola Community Health Centre); and 182 did not involve any transport. Those calls which went to the Urgent Care Clinic are ones where that was the final destination for the patient. Patients assessed at the clinic, but who carried on would be included in the ‘transported off island’ numbers.

Clinical Response Model utilized by BC EHS to categorize what response is required for each call. Image Source: BC EHS.