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Saskatoon’s overdose crisis isn’t getting any better.
In fact, the numbers for this year are worse than the same period in 2025, when the provincial emergency operations centre was activated to help address the overdose crisis in the city.
Read more:
- Overdose alert issued in Saskatoon after closure of supervised consumption site
- Overdose calls to Saskatoon Fire Department nearly doubled in 2025
- Saskatoon firefighters ‘exasperated’ as overdose calls skyrocket, says union president
That’s according to Doug Wegren, Saskatoon’s fire chief, who addressed city council on Wednesday after Ward 5 Coun. Randy Donauer inquired about the situation and what’s being done to help fire department staff.
“We’re hearing about the impacts on our fire department on the responses going multiple, multiple, multiple times a day,” Donauer said.
Wegren confirmed the recent spike in overdose calls, telling councilors that there have been 400 more calls so far in 2026 than the same time period in 2025.
“We did have quite a spike from April 20 to May 2, where we were averaging over 28 (overdose calls) a day,” he said.
The fire department responded to 680 overdose calls in April alone. Since then, the numbers have come down somewhat, but Wegren said the department is still fielding an average of 16 overdose-related calls each day.
While overdoses are occurring throughout the city, the highest volume of calls coming in are for stations 1 and 2, which are located on Idylwyld Drive and Diefenbaker Drive.
Wegren said battalion chiefs are continually checking in with crew members who attend the calls and rotating them with other staff – whether it’s within the station itself, or bringing in people from other stations to cover for them – so they have time for meals and rest.
“Overall, I would say crews are handling it very professionally,” the fire chief said. “It is taxing, for sure.”
Jay Protz, IAFF Local 80 president, recently said firefighters in Saskatoon are “exasperated” with the unrelenting number of overdose calls. He asked for help from all levels of government.
“At the end of the day, we we need to just sit down and have those conversations,” Protz said.
“And these are the hard, difficult conversations with all levels of government, with our councillors, with our MLAs, with our MPs, to be able to come to a bigger solution versus any short term stop gaps.”
Toby Esterby, chief operating officer for the Saskatoon Community Clinic, also implored the City of Saskatoon to lobby the provincial and federal governments for more resources.
He said his nurses have requested better knee pads because they are spending so much time kneeling down while treating overdose patients.
