Social disorder, drugs, and homelessness are putting extra pressure on the Saskatoon Fire Department, leading to competing priority demands.  

SFD Chief Doug Wegren says in 2025, crews responded to 28,719 calls for service, which is a 13.2 per cent increase over the year prior. About 6,500 of those calls pertained to fire suppression, whereas 13,500 calls were for EMS response. 

Over 2,500 of the EMS calls were overdose-related, up from 1,281 overdose calls in 2024.  

“Encampment responses also continued to grow, with 1859 encampments attended and 116 encampment fires, reflecting the heightened risks associated with homelessness, addictions, and inadequate shelter.”

He explains that these additional pressures have contributed to a backlog in annual fire inspections, which dropped from 2,101 in 2024 to 1,831 in 2025.  Wegren adds that gradual upticks in calls continue to impact response times.  

“The heightened number of calls does affect our response. The other piece is the population size that we have and the sprawl that we’re having with the city.”

Also in 2025, over 8000 wildfire evacuees found refuge in the city. That’s equivalent to the population of Humboldt moving into Saskatoon in the span of three days.  

Wegren says more resources will be required in the future, specifically new fire stations on the east side and additional smaller fire trucks to relieve availability pressure on larger units. 

On the bright side, he says 2025 also brought the installment of Next Gen 911 and the delivery of live firefighter training sessions.