Calgary fire chief talks water main breaks and rising demand [Video]

From a tumultuous water supply to crypto-demanding arsonists, fire Chief Steve Dongworth sat down with CTV News to recap the many challenges the Calgary Fire Department faced in 2024, as well as looking ahead to 2025.

With a water main break in June that crippled the city’s water supply for weeks, the Calgary Fire Department was thrust into a difficult situation: figuring out how to fight fires with as little water as possible.

“I’ve even talked with a lot of my colleagues. This is very, very rare, you know, to have that situation where such a critical piece of infrastructure fails and there’s no real backup,” said Dongworth.

It led to creative ideas, such as using train cars to move water across the city or even calling in nearby water bomber airplanes.

While those backups were never needed, the situation prompted the fire department to change how it operated equipment …