City Administration is providing an update on the opioid overdose crisis that has plagued Saskatoon for several months.
The report, being presented at Tuesday’s Environment, Utilities, and Corporate Services Committee meeting, shows that there has been a steep increase in overdose incidents in 2025 compared to last year. Between January 1 and May 21, 2025, the fire department responded to 1,149 overdose incidents, up from 568 during the same time frame in 2024. So far this year, the province’s Coroner’s Officer says there have been 120 overdose deaths, 38 of which have been confirmed.
During the worst month thus far in 2025, March, there were 509 overdoses, up from 115 on 2024, signifying a 342 per cent increase.
Although overdose numbers have been trending downward since March, the fire department is still currently averaging eight overdose calls per every 24-hour shift.
Rob Hogan, Saskatoon’s Deputy Fire Chief, says the average number of overdoses per shift in 2024 was significantly less at 3.5.
“If I was to come to you and say we have eight housefires versus three-and-a-half last year, there would be a ton of questions asked about what’s going on.”
The report says this crisis has drawn extensively on Saskatoon’s emergency response and healthcare resources through finances, supplies and staffing. Overtime costs to increase minimum staffing from March 12 to April 22 were $145,000.
Moving forward, an After-Action Report process will be implemented, and the report will be used to improve future activations of the City’s Emergency Operations Centre.
Also presented at Tuesday’s meeting, the Saskatoon Fire Department’s 2024 activity report indicates there was another increase in responses to incidents and calls for service.
The report says 2024 saw over 25,366 incident responses, 190 more than in 2023.
The report adds that the increasing number of incidents is posing a significant challenge when it comes to maintain service levels. This problem isn’t just affecting fire crews. Total calls for Emergency Medical Services rose from 11,315 in 2023 to 11,976 last year. Calls to assaults were up 27 per cent from the year prior.
In 2024, 1244 encampment reports were received, and 6294 discarded needles were collected. Also in 2024, Doug Wegren was appointed as Saskatoon’s new fire chief, taking over for previous chief Morgan Hackl.
