The Hanover Fire Department saw its calls for service climb in 2019. Yet, Fire Chief Paul Wiebe says it was still only an average year.

Firefighters were called out 263 times in 2019, compared to 225 in 2018 and 266 times in 2017.

In breaking down the nature of the calls, Wiebe says 95 of them were for incidents on roadways, which includes collisions and vehicle fires. There were 47 calls for either structure fires or fires in a structure, 47 alarm calls, 45 calls for grass fires and then 29 calls that are classified as 'other', which can include such things as downed hydro lines.

Wiebe says there were a few calls that stood out from 2019. He notes in January they had two separate fires in the same apartment complex in Grunthal which he classifies as "a pretty major event." He adds there was a major barn fire in spring near Blumenort, a major shop fire near Niverville in summer and then several significant house fires. The Hanover Fire Department also assisted with a large dairy barn fire in the RM of Ste. Anne.

According to Wiebe, they had a fairly busy grass fire season in spring. In fact, he says June was their busiest month of the year with 39 calls. He attributes that mostly to grass fires. On the flip side, Wiebe says the wet fall cut down on the fall grass fire season, which Wiebe says had been significant over the last few years.

"We were really happy that we had a bit of a break there," says Wiebe.

Meanwhile, Wiebe says from an equipment and capital standpoint, 2019 was a pretty good year. Not only did they open a new fire hall in Blumenort, but they added a new fire truck in New Bothwell and took possession of two new UTVs for fighting grass fires.