Geographic scope
Alberta municipalities, fire departments, and department response areas where eligible public structure-fire rescue records are submitted and reviewed.
Methodology version 0.9 pre-launch draft
How FFRA rescue records become public data.
Firefighter Rescues Alberta is preparing a transparent methodology for collecting, reviewing, de-identifying, categorizing, and publishing public structure-fire rescue records beginning with 2027 incidents.
Scope
Formal public data collection begins January 1, 2027.
The first official FFRA dataset begins with 2027 incidents. Pre-launch work includes background research, consultation, survey design, privacy planning, technical development, outreach, and pilot testing.
Eligible records
Civilian rescues from structure fires involving fire department personnel where a civilian was unable to self-evacuate and the record can be de-identified for public learning.
Important limits
No submitted record does not mean no rescue occurred. The dataset depends on participation, reporting, review, and publication coverage.
Definitions
Terms that affect how records are counted.
Definitions are draft pre-launch language and may be refined before the public dataset opens.
Civilian rescue
A civilian removed, assisted, or directly rescued by fire department personnel when the person could not self-evacuate without firefighter intervention.
Public record
A de-identified rescue record approved for public display after sensitive information has been excluded.
Structure fire
An incident involving fire in or affecting a building or structure, reported through the official Alberta survey scope.
Municipality
The community-level location used for public mapping and filtering. Exact addresses are not displayed.
Victim location
The general location where the civilian was found or contacted, reported without exact address, names, or private identifying details.
Extraction path
The broad pathway used to remove or assist the civilian, such as door, window, stairs, ladder, balcony, or other reported route.
Review process
From submission to public record.
The review process is designed to preserve useful fireground information while keeping sensitive information out of the public website.
- 01Submitted
A firefighter or authorized representative submits the record.
- 02Screened
Private, medical, identifying, or sensitive operational details are excluded.
- 03Standardized
Municipality, date, occupancy, conditions, actions, and rescue fields are normalized.
- 04Published
Approved public fields feed charts, map summaries, downloads, and reports.
Counting rules
Consistent counts make the dataset useful.
- Multiple civilians at one incident are counted as separate rescued civilians.
- Duplicate submissions are consolidated where they refer to the same person and incident.
- Municipality is assigned at the incident-community level where possible, not as proof of department partnership.
- Mutual-aid records may require both incident municipality and responding department context.
- Unknown, unavailable, or incomplete values are displayed as missing context, not as zero activity.
Limitations
Interpret the records cautiously.
The dataset is built for learning, research, operational discussion, and public understanding. It is not a complete government incident database.
Participation varies
Reporting rates may differ by department, municipality, region, incident type, and awareness of the project.
Small samples matter
Early-year patterns should be treated as descriptive observations that may warrant further examination, not causal proof.
Privacy limits detail
Some operational or narrative detail may be withheld, generalized, or excluded to protect civilians, firefighters, departments, and investigations.