The Calgary Fire Department has seen a significant drop in the number of medical response calls related to opioid overdoses, said Calgary’s Fire Chief, but that doesn’t mean the problem is going away.

Calgary Fire Chief Steve Dongworth delivered the Calgary Fire Department’s 2024 annual report to the Community Development Committee, and in it, he noted that while medical calls still represent 50 per cent of total incidents (~45,000), critical medical interventions were down 15 per cent from 2023.

Along with that is a nearly 60 per cent decrease in the number of calls related to opioid poisonings.

Chief Dongworth said that while they don’t know for sure the reasons why, there are a handful of factors that they believe are responsible. One of those is a more domestic drug supply, which means it’s safer and more reliable, Dongworth said. Past supplies would be mixed with carfentanyl, or with xylazine or methamphetamines.

“When a new batch of drugs hit the street, we used to see it, just as Calgary Police Service did, where there are a whole bunch of overdoses all of a sudden, and it would actually spread out from the downtown out into other parts of the city,” Dongworth said.

“Now, that dose is much more predictable, so the person is less likely to overdose.”

Another big reason for the decline in calls is the prevalence of naloxone, either with citizens carrying it, drug users carrying it, or the availability of it at commercial locations.

“Many people out there, particularly those who are in the downtown core, perhaps security guards have it, peace officers, they all have naloxone now, where they have frequent contact with the vulnerable populations that may be susceptible to those overdoses, and they can administer that, and we may never know about it,” he said.

Success at the DI

Chief Dongworth also credited the Calgary Drop-In Centre’s addition of full-time EMS on-call support for reducing the number of opioid related calls to that location.

“That’s been really impactful in terms of our crews would be there multiple times a day,” he said.

“Now, they go several days sometimes, and they never go to the Drop-In Center for an opioid overdose.”

David Sawatzky, Chief Operating Officer for the Calgary Drop-In Centre, said back in mid-2023, they implemented a system where two medical professionals were on-call 24 hours a day at their downtown Calgary building.

Their Rapid Response Plan was put together after seeing an exponential growth in the number of drug poisonings in the area between 2018 and 2023. It was supported through the Alberta government’s Mental Health and Addictions ministry.

Sawatzky said that when one or more drug poisonings happen, medical professionals respond.

“It takes that load off of our frontline staff, so we have medical professionals that are responding, and then they can bring those individuals back to an area of the building where we call it our high observation area, where an LPN is around the clock, monitoring them medically,” he said.

From there, they have medical-based protocols that allow them to make decisions about further medical intervention, like hospitalization.

“When we started, we would call 911 on every drug poisoning. With this protocol, we average, over the course of the year, about 20 per cent of drug poisonings we actually call 911 now.”

Through 11 months of 2024, that meant 800 fewer calls to both CFD and Alberta EMS. Overall, it’s meant a 50 per cent decrease in drug poisonings.

Sawatzky said it’s helped build more peace of mind among staff and trust with the DI clients. Still, it’s not a supervised consumption site; this system is more reactive than proactive, and they still don’t allow drug use at the building, Sawatzky said.

“We have more professional response with medical trained professionals, and that we can better manage them in an environment that they can trust, versus having to call the system,” he said.

Once in the observation area, they can be put into detox beds or recovery transition beds at the facility–also funded by the provincial government.

A significant reality also at play: Coun. Walcott

Sawatzky said that the vulnerable Calgarians who attend the Drop-In Centre are starting to feel more trusting of the care they get at the DI. Part of that is a faster and more medicalized response, the other is that they don’t have to be displaced and go to a hospital.

They can also get quick access to drug detox, if they wish, or be connected to other community resources.

The final success of the program is a reduction in staff turnover, Sawatzky said. They don’t carry the same emotional trauma every single day, he said.

“I don’t think it’s coincidental. There’s a lot of programs that are working in sync, and I think that’s a really good news story,” he said.

Ward 8 Coun. Courtney Walcott, chair of the Community Development Committee, recognized the work being done at the DI as a major contributor to a drop in CFD response to opioid calls.

He said, however, there’s a sobering reality to contend with when looking at the drop in opioid-related calls.

“There’s a second part to it that it’s really hard to talk about, and it’s that there’s a large portion of the population who are most susceptible to overdoses that died,” Walcott said.

In 2023, 626 people died of drug poisonings in Calgary, according to the Alberta Substance Use Surveillance System. That dropped to 284 in 2024.

He said there’s an attempt to always talk about the numbers in a positive way, and that people are healing, and that’s why numbers are dropping.

“There is a significant reality that the opposite is true. It’s just that a large portion of our most vulnerable users passed away in the height of the opioid crisis last year, in the height of the toxic drug supply,” he said.

“When it was at its worst, it devastated a community of people that needed to heal. Those deaths account for a significant portion of the reduced calls alongside the medical support that we’re seeing, and it’s important to talk about both.”