Keri Martens – believed to be one of a dozen female fire chiefs in the country – is blazing new territory for the Lake Louise fire department.
Martens made it out to her 1,000th call as a member of the Lake Louise Fire Department last month – and the impressive milestone for the small department was celebrated at a function in Lake Louise Jan. 16.
In the past 13 years, she has responded to just about every possible scenario imaginable: propane fires, house fires, countless highway accidents, vehicle extrications, and, of course, hundreds of medical situations.
Her ongoing dedication and commitment to the Lake Louise community has earned her an Alberta Emergency Services Award.
“Keri’s commitment to the community of Lake Louise has been exemplary,” said ID9 councillor Dave Schebek in a speech he delivered at the Jan. 16 event to pay tribute to all Martens has achieved in Lake Louise.
Martens moved to Lake Louise in the 1990s and, wanting to get more involved in the local community, she joined the Lake Louise Fire Department as a volunteer 13 years ago.
Over the course of a few short years, she was promoted to captain, then deputy chief and finally, in 2002, to chief. The highest-ranking position in a fire department is not held by many women in Canada.
In her time as fire chief, Martens has overseen an ambitious expansion of the fire department from a completely volunteer operation to a department that now has one part-time and two full-time firefighters.
This growth has helped the department keep up with ever-increasing emergency service demands in the busy Lake Louise area. In fact, in 2012, the Lake Louise fire department responded to 193 calls, a new record.
Of the 193 calls, 59 were motor vehicle accidents, 97 were medical related, such as assisting Banff EMS, four were structure fires, four other calls were related to vehicle fires or garbage bin fires, for example, and others were false alarms.
“We are a busy department and it just keeps getting busier. When I started, I don’t know that we even did 100 calls,’ said Martens.
“I have a great a team. The guys – I have guys and girls, but I call them my guys – are fantastic. I certainly wouldn’t be able to do any of this without them.”
Martens’ 1,000th call ended up requiring her to act as a driver for Banff EMS as two paramedics worked on a patient being transported form Lake Louise ski hill to Banff Mineral Springs Hospital.
Not all of her callouts have led to great outcomes. A few had tragic endings that can still haunt her, but that is something Martens and her team accept as part of the job.
But there are other calls that end on a much happier note, like the one last summer when Martens was the lead first responder to a report of a cardiac arrest at Lake Louise.
Using CPR and an automated external defibrillator (AED), Martens was able to bring the patient back to life not once, but twice. The man, in his 50s, made a full recovery.
“He had a heart attack in front of us and we were able to use the AED and save him. When he left in STARS he was actually talking to us,” she said.
“We’ve used the AED before, but they don’t always have really good outcomes, so the outcome of the call was definitely a highlight.”
