Safety First
Red Deer Emergency Services continues to provide exceptional emergency response, with crews arriving within established service targets and prioritizing community and employee safety.
- From January 1 to July 31, 2025, the average response time was approximately 9 minutes and 50 seconds for all call categories (excluding AHS ambulance response).
- From January 1 to July 31,2025, the average response time for structure fires was 6 minutes and 48 seconds
- Alberta Health Services target response time for ambulance (emergency medical response) is 12 minutes. (City has a contract with Alberta Health Services to deliver ambulance until September 2026)
Call Volumes
By the end of July, crews responded to more than 15,500 calls. About 90% of these were medical emergencies.
- Total: 15,594 calls.
- Alberta Health Services (Ambulance)EMS: 11,952 (77%).
- Fire Related Calls: 3,642 (23%).
- Of the 3,642, 58% are medical, alarms 19%, outside fires 9%, vehicle collisions 5%.
- Structure fires: 2% of all fire related calls
Resources at Your Door
When Dynamic Staffing is in place, four or more firefighters are dispatched to all fire related calls; in some cases, this means more resources arriving at your door, spread across two trucks instead of one.
Overtime Costs
In 2024, overtime in Red Deer Emergency Services totaled more than $3.2 million - the highest per capita in Alberta.
- Dynamic staffing has reduced the money spent on overtime by more than $1 million between January and July this year.
- In 2024, there were 1,920 overtime shifts. In 2025, to date, there have been 160 overtime shifts.
- Dynamic staffing has been used 85 times.
Tax Impact
Every $1.5 million added to the budget equals about a 1% property tax increase. Reversing Dynamic Staffing would result in additional tax increases over and above what is already expected, for Emergency Services alone - without increasing service levels.
Competitive Pay
Approximately + benefits & pension (set in collective agreement through bargaining)
- First-Class Firefighter: $109,853
- Captain: $134,020
- Platoon Chief: $148,301.
New Temporary Positions
Following a Letter of Understanding signed in June between The City and the IAFF, The City is now able to hire up to 12 temporary paramedics in EMS-only roles for terms of up to 12 months. This is the first time The City has been able to hire temporary employees to cover leaves. To date, 6 paramedics have been hired, with recruitment underway for the remaining positions.