Opioid crisis a turning point for Edmonton firefighters

Edmonton firefighters are grappling with the demands of an opioid crisis sweeping Western Canada, fire Chief Ken Block says.

"We don't live on an island here," Block told CBC News Friday. "We reflect what's going on in the population of Western Canada."

• Edmonton firefighters deploy naloxone nearly every other day as Alberta opioid crisis continues

More than 600 people in Alberta have died from apparent drug overdoses related to the deadly narcotic fentanyl since January 2016.

In response, Edmonton firefighters started carrying injections of the opioid overdose antidote naloxone in early 2017. 

"It's had a significant impact," Block said about the rise of opioids such as fentanyl. "We were never trained to deliver intramuscular injections until the need for naloxone."

From June to August this year, firefighters in Edmonton administered naloxone every other day on average. 

Fire rescue staff have used the life-saving injection 65 times from the end of February to the end of August, Block said. More than half those injections occurred after June 8.

You hate to think that our citizens are struggling with addictions like this.- Edmonton Fire Chief Ken Block

"We're a metro city and the numbers don't surprise me but certainly they concern me," Block said. "You hate to think that our citizens are struggling with addictions like this."

Edmonton accounted for one third of the province's fentanyl-related overdose deaths in the first six months of 2017.

Another tool in the toolbox

Despite the number of fentanyl-related emergency calls from the Edmonton area, Block said firefighters are holding their own.

Fire crews are the ideal resource in time-sensitive emergencies such as overdoses, he added. The average response time for Edmonton Fire Rescue Services is about seven minutes.

"Firefighters have responded to life-threatening medical events for decades, that's what we do," Block said. "This is just another treatment, I guess, that now is in our toolbox that we're allowed to deliver."

Edmonton firefighters should be allowed to expand their life-saving skillsets to cover other time-sensitive emergencies that require medical injections, such as Type 1 diabetes, Block said.

"Time is everything," he said. "There's all types of opportunities to include our firefighters in other treatments that are required in a timely manner."