It's been a busy January for Okotoks Fire Services.

In the past seven days they've responded to 30 calls, Ken Thevenot, Okotoks Fire Chief, says the amount is higher than usual.

"We had nine alarm system activations, one gas leak, one odour investigation, 12 medical responses, one public service, a rescue assist and we attended to five motor vehicle accidents."

Thevenot says response numbers in January have been high due to an increase in carbon monoxide calls.

He shares the cold snap at the beginning of the year kept them quite busy, considering detectors will go off even with a small amount of carbon monoxide.

"Some will set it off at the lower levels, typically it's about 25 parts per million, but we had a few calls where there was some higher levels when we did arrive. Other things may set it off; be it drywall dust, construction type atmospheres may set them off as well, security systems may set them off, but we also had a call where there was a hot water tank issue."

Thevenot asks residents to check their CO detectors' expiry dates, change batteries if needed, and to leave the premises immediately in the event the detector goes off.

There's no slowing down for the fire department as they now begin their 2018 commercial inspections.

"We are starting our commercial inspections again so we'll be going into the businesses and doing fire safety checks there with our annual inspections. If we were in your facility in February or March of last year, we'll try to make it at the same time every year to stop by for a visit and assist with a fire safety check to make sure everything's going good in your business."

Last year the department completed 700 inspections.

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