Langley City and Township firefighters were buy over the Christmas to New Year’s season, but the biggest issues weren’t fires, it was the cold weather and medical calls.
Between Dec. 23 and Jan. 2, City firefighters were called out 124 times.
“It has been a busy time for our crews,” said Chris Miley, assistant fire chief.
Miley said just four of those calls were fire related.
As usual, responding to medical emergencies was the largest segment, with 65 medical calls in that time.
The next largest single segment, however, was to deal with burst pipes or water leaks.
Record cold temperatures have played havoc with plumbing across the Lower Mainland in recent weeks. After Christmas, temperatures dropped as low as -15.6° Celsius at night.
Township firefighters were also busy dealing with alarm calls due to leaking pipes, said assistant fire chief Dale Steeple.
The problem comes with pipes that froze during the coldest weather, which then started leaking when they warmed up again.
Steeple said that fortunately the number of vehicle crashes in the Township dropped over the holidays, as the roads were less busy, despite ice and snow in many areas.
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The other calls for assistance in Langley City were fire alarm calls, car crashes, and calls for public assistance.