Fire officials release 2025 call statistics for Ponoka

PONOKA -- Ponoka County Fire Services has released their 2025 call statistics for the Town of Ponoka.

The data shows that the PCFS East District responded to a total of 278 calls for service in Ponoka during the course of last year. This marked an eight-year high for the township; however, it's noted that a vast majority of these responses were for alarms. 

In total, there were fifteen calls for fires last year in Ponoka, which is up from fourteen in 2024, but down from 25 in 2023. There were also sixteen calls for motor vehicle collisions, up from fifteen the year prior. The data for the PCFS East District shows that crews put in 2,718 man hours within the Town of Ponoka during the course of last year.

Ponoka County Fire Services also notes that there were 87 per cent more EMS/RCMP assist calls last year than they had in 2024. Of the public service calls, the PCFS says the majority were for cold response lift assist.

They add that EHS (Emergency Health Services) have changed the protocols in Alberta effective as of January 27, 2026, on the use of lights and sirens to emergency calls and will be based on the nature of the calls and the discretion of the personnel.

Across all of Ponoka County, fire officials say there was a decrease in outside fire calls from the previous year. For 2024, the majority of the calls were assisting with homeless camps in the river valley. Data for the East District shows that crews were the busiest between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. during 2025.