Saskatoon firefighters have issued a public plea for help dealing with a surge in overdose-related calls, and their union is warning the status quo could lead to longer waits for other emergency calls.

“We really haven’t got out of the overdose crisis since last year,” he said. “Those numbers have continued to climb. We’re at the threshold.”

Fire crews are responding to more than a dozen overdose-related calls a day, sometimes with multiple people per call needing medical attention. That means less time for non-overdose emergency calls, Protz said.

The fire department responded to 195 overdose-related calls in the first two weeks of April. Thirty per cent of those calls were within five blocks of Prairie Harm Reduction, which offered support services to people living with addictions and operated the city’s only supervised drug consumption site until it closed last month.