According to its 2025 report, the number of calls being fielded by Woodlands County Fire Services increased last year, as did the number of fires it responded to.
The county has four main fire stations with varying staffing levels:
- Station 2: Fort Assiniboine, 21 members
- Station 3: Blue Ridge, 15 members
- Station 4: Anselmo, eight members
- Station 5: Goose Lake, 13 members
Additionally, the Town of Whitecourt’s fire department responds to calls within Fire District 1 of the county through a mutual aid agreement.
In 2025, 263 response calls were received across all county fire districts.
The Goose Lake station saw the largest jump in calls. It received 30 in 2025, up from 17 in 2024 and 19 in 2023. Of those, 10 calls involved fires, up from five in 2024 and three in 2023.
In the Blue Ridge area, 46 calls for service were made in 2025, compared to 39 in 2024 and 2023. In both 2025 and 2024, 13 of those calls were for fires, while only five were in 2023.
Station 2, in Fort Assiniboine, received 82 calls in 2025, 80 in 2024 and 71 in 2023. There were fewer than 10 fires in 2025 and 2024, and fewer than five in 2023.
In the Anselmo region, Station 4 fielded 13 calls, only one more than in 2024 and 2023. The number of fires in the region has also been relatively stable, with three in 2023, four in 2024 and two in 2025.
Firefighters with the Town of Whitecourt assisted with 81 calls in the county, down from 86 in 2024. Six of those calls were for vehicle fires, and six were for “other fires.”
Woodlands County council received the annual report for information during its regularly scheduled meeting on March 26.
According to the council agenda, the combined operations budget for all four stations is set at $1,077,583 for 2026, down from $1,236,517 in 2025.
County Reeve Dave Kusch explained, “It’s not so much a reduction as an accounting clean up.”
About $60,000 from last year’s budget was one-time funding for a fire study, he said, and the remaining difference can be attributed to recoding and reorganization in the accounting systems.
