After a hectic year, Chatham-Kent’s fire chief is hoping for a more peaceful 2026.
Chief Chris Case says the past 12 months have been busy for fire crews and first responders across Chatham-Kent, including continued gas leaks in Wheatley.
Just weeks after a celebration was held in June to mark the progress made since the 2021 explosion and unveiling plans to revitalize the community, another gas leak was detected, this time near the Wheatley branch of the Chatham-Kent Public Library. After repeated gas emissions, monitoring, and remediation over the following weeks, the source of the gas, an abandoned water well, was plugged at the beginning of August.
Case says the fire service has learned some valuable lessons over the last four years.
“We were able to get in there and identify what was going on, and try to reduce the impact on the community, which was a real benefit.” Case says. “The officers who work the Wheatley file are being called upon all over the country and all over the world to talk about this type of event.”
Along with command teams for logistics, operations, and prevention, Chatham-Kent Fire and Rescue now has a dedicated Wheatley Command, including a chief officer and staff that focus solely on emergency response in the community.
Looking back on incidents requiring assistance from firefighters in 2025, Chief Case says crews were kept busy responding to collisions. He says while there were fewer crashes, there were more that required emergency response, including the use of the jaws of life.
“Whilst the number of calls is going down, the severity of calls is increasing. In 2024, we had 19 occasions where we actually had to actually get the tools out and cut the car to get the person out. That increased to 35 last year over 2025.”
Fire and rescue crews responded to a similar number of fires in the past year as in 2024, and Case says that number has been steadily decreasing over the last decade. However, 2025 saw an increase in fires relating to the homeless community, small fires, and brush, grass, and crop fires.
Chatham-Kent’s Fire Master Plan was approved in 2024, laying out the department’s priorities for the next five years. Case says now that the Community Hub has been approved and is moving forward, it’s time to start looking for a new home for Fire Station #1.
“We do have a team [that] is now working on an implementation plan. We have a group of officers who are looking at locations and the best place to put a new station. We want it to be in the optimal place, but we also want it to be a benefit to the community, we want this to be an improvement to the area where we can bring a fire station in and be a part of that community.”
Community outreach continues to be a priority for Chatham-Kent Fire and Rescue. CHiRP Checks allow fire crews to interact with homeowners, offering advice. Case says on-call and volunteer firefighters in rural areas take part in barbecues, fish fries, and breakfasts in order to provide support and connection to the community in which they are embedded.
“You can’t save many lives with the door closed,” Case says. “We’d much rather come through the door with a smoke alarm than a fully-charged line of hose.”
Case says the only way to protect the community is to be part of it, something he and firefighters across Chatham-Kent plan to continue in 2026.
