The Penticton Fire Department attended to eight overdoses on Wednesday as toxic drug supply surges through the Okanagan.
All but one of the overdoses was at the Victory Church shelter on Winnipeg Street, according to the daily fire dispatch list.
Those overdoses don’t account for all the overdoses paramedics attended or the ones where Naloxone was administered by individuals or the user and emergency services weren’t called.
Wednesday, Feb. 16 was also the day welfare cheques were handed out. According to the B.C. Coroners Service, fatal overdoses increase by 35 to 40 per cent in the five days after income assistance payments.
Also on Wednesday, Interior Health issued a rare region-wide warning about the high amounts of fentanyl showing up in streets drugs.
“It’s troublesome and frustrating. This has been the story for a long time. There is a crisis situation in our communities and it’s getting worse,” said Penticton Fire Chief Larry Watkinson.
Calls to the fire hall increased by 1,000 in 2021 compared to the year before.
The overdose crisis has taken a major toll on first responders who are the front lines of this for so long.
“The people overdosing are often abusive to responders. We have to have RCMP attend with us,” he said.
Watkinson is expanding its mental health supports for firefighters.
“We are making sure our members are looked after for their mental health. We debrief and have mental health days,” he added.
Penticton RCMP Supt. Brian Hunter was recently in front of city council to say Penticton officers are dealing with two times the amount of mental health and addictions calls per capita than that of cities like Kelowna and Kamloops.
The crisis on the streets is using an exorbitant amount of resources that should be focusing on fighting crime and doing proactive policing, he added.
What’s been done so far by levels of government hasn’t helped. Interior Health has not returned questions about what their response is to the recent surge in overdoses.
Penticton’s fire chief believes the federal and provincial governments should at least look at a clean drug supply as a proactive way to make a difference in the overdose crisis.
READ MORE: Record year for overdoses
“This has become such a huge burden on all our services, from the hospital, RCMP, fire, ambulance. There would be cost recovery if there was a safe supply. We have to try something.”
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