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Calgary firefighters responded to more calls related to substance use last year compared to 2024, in an overall busier year for the city’s fire department.
The Calgary Fire Department received more than 4,700 substance-related calls in 2025 — a more than 60-per-cent uptick from the previous year, it stated in its latest annual report, which was presented to city councillors on Wednesday.
More than half of the calls the department responded to last year were critical medical interventions, continuing a trend Chief Steve Dongworth said the department has seen for years. On Wednesday, he said firefighters are responding to calls about social disorder every day, whether they be about overdoses, homelessness or encampments.
He said it’s understandable the department receives these calls, but that it changes the dynamic of their work. He said firefighters today are working in a “different world” than the one he worked in during the 1990s.
“It’s stark, the difference, in terms of what’s happening on our streets — again, particularly in the core but also in other parts of the city,” said Dongworth.
Steve Dongworth, chief of the Calgary Fire Department, said his department will likely be calling for a significant ask in this fall’s budget discussions. (Audrey Neveu/CBC)
City statistics show the fire department responded to more overdoses across the city last year compared to 2024. And that trend is continuing. In January, firefighters responded to 609 overdoses, a 138-per-cent increase from the same month the year before.
Dongworth attributed the increase in overdose calls, in part, to a less predictable drug supply where people may not realize the potency of the drugs they’re taking.
Overall, the fire department responded to more than 92,200 emergency incidents in 2025. After seeing a record high call volume in 2023, then a drop in 2024, calls spiked back up roughly five per cent last year. Dongworth said this year is already trending toward a higher volume of calls.
Dongworth said the fire department is working with Emergency Health Services to reduce the number of calls firefighters respond to. He flagged medical interventions where firefighters don’t have the training or equipment to intervene as an example where Emergency Health Services would be better suited to respond.
“We’re trying to cut those calls out of the mix as well where we know there’s a medical practitioner on the scene. What’s the value that we’re going to add as firefighters?” said Dongworth.
The fire chief suggested this approach could cut down the number of calls firefighters respond to by roughly 15 per cent.
Calgary fire, police eye significant budget asks
Rapid population growth and increased density were listed in the fire department’s annual report as pressing challenges.
The report argues the department needs sustained investment proportional to Calgary’s growth to maintain its service level. Other risks like global inflation and supply chain disruptions are delaying equipment procurement, and station renovations and builds.
The fire department is still figuring out what kind of funding ask it will make ahead of city council’s budget deliberations this fall, but Dongworth said he expects it to be significant to support staffing needs. He pointed to medical response units and aerial fire trucks as other department needs that could be supported with additional funding.
The Calgary Police Service, which also presented its annual report at city hall on Wednesday, said it expects to make a significant funding request this fall as well.
Ward 5 Coun. Raj Dhaliwal, chair of the Community Development Committee, argued emergency resources, like Calgary police and fire, need more robust funding to support a growing population.
“Numbers are telling us that growth has happened exponentially, especially in the last three years, and resource capacity of these services haven’t necessarily lived up to it,” said Dhaliwal.
He expects Calgarians will be open to more city funding going toward Calgary police and fire, after hearing public safety come up often as a top priority for residents while campaigning in last fall’s municipal election.