Not only was 2010 the busiest year ever for Thompson's ambulances, the city has moved ahead of Brandon in terms of total calls.
Thompson Fire and Emergency Services (TFES) recorded 436 medical responses in December 2010, pushing the department's total for the year up to 4,973 - well past the previous record of 4,518, which was set in 2008.
"When you look at those numbers, our ambulance calls exceed the city of Brandon, that is at least three times as big as the City of Thompson," noted Mayor Tim Johnston. "It is a huge challenge in our city and our community."
Thompson's ambulances are sent out more than twice as often than they were even 10 years ago, as fire chief Ian Thompson noted in a report to city council that the number of responses has steadily risen from 2,109 in 2000, breaking the 3,000 barrier in 2005 and passing 4,000 calls only two years after that.
The majority of the city's ambulance trips head outside the city's boundaries - to the airport, for example - with 248 patients coming from out of Thompson in December alone. In fact just under 60 per cent of ambulatory calls between September and December fell under that category of out-of-town trips.
Fire calls, conversely, have risen only slightly since 2000 - from 350 that year to 445 in 2010. The high point of the decade was in 2006, with 476 responses, while the low point was in 2001, with only 307 calls.
Of the 39 incidents fire crews responded to in December, only one caused significant damage - to a residence on Hemlock Crescent, which saw $240,000 in damage due to an accidental blaze on Dec. 28. "Investigations revealed that the cause of that was an electrical cord which was connected to a piece of equipment," said Thompson.
