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2021 marked ‘busiest year so far’ for fire and bylaw: Collingwood fire chief

‘It’s a steady increase, but it’s not attributable to any one factor; There’s more people in town,’ says Chief Ross Parr
20210611_NewFireTruck_EE2
The multi-functional truck is equipped to fight fires with a crew of five, but it also carries auto-extrication and ice water rescue equipment.

In 2021, the Town of Collingwood responded to 3,200 bylaw occurrences; a 16 per cent uptick over 2020 numbers.

As part of a departmental update during Monday’s corporate and community services committee meeting, Collingwood Fire Chief Ross Parr provided an update on bylaw and fire calls in 2021.

“We had a very busy year last year,” said Parr. “It was our busiest year so far.”

Parr said he attributes the 2021 increase to some new bylaws put in place last year, specifically parking restrictions at Sunset Point and Princeton Shores.

He says the increase in 2021 was due to parking infractions, animal control complaints, property standards complaints and noise complaints. COVID-19-related complaints were also part of the increase.

“COVID wasn’t a major factor, but it did add to those increasing numbers,” Parr told CollingwoodToday.ca.

To deal with the uptick in calls, this past summer Parr notes two new summer student positions were added as part of the 2021 budget, which he said was helpful when it came to monitoring Sunset Point.

Overall, he said the most common calls received by bylaw are in relation to parking, animal control and property standards.

In 2021, Parr said the fire department received 936 calls for service. For comparison, in 2020, they responded to 858 calls.

The biggest fire of the year occurred on Sept. 20, 2021 at the Shannon Towers building at 535 Tenth St. Two residents died as a result of the blaze, which caused about $1 million in damage.

“It’s a steady increase, but it’s not attributable to any one factor; There are more people in town,” said Parr.

As part of the update, Parr noted digital parking tickets are planned to be instituted in town within the next week.


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Jessica Owen

About the Author: Jessica Owen

Jessica Owen is an experienced journalist working for Village Media since 2018, primarily covering Collingwood and education.
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