Opioid crisis a turning point for Edmonton firefighters

Edmonton firefighters are grappling with the demands of an opioidcrisis 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 naloxonenearly every other day as Alberta opioid crisis continues

More than 600people in Albertahave died fromapparent drug overdoses related to the deadly narcotic fentanylsince 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 fromthe 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 accountedfor one third of the province's fentanyl-related overdose deaths inthe 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 intime-sensitiveemergencies such as overdoses, he added.The average response time for Edmonton Fire Rescue Servicesis about seven minutes.

"Firefightershave 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 allowedto 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,"hesaid."There'sall types of opportunitiesto include our firefighters in other treatments that are required in a timely manner."