The Humboldt Fire Department might start breaking even on more of its calls to car crashes after a rate change from SGI.

SGI has gotten rid of its non-productive call rate - every call will now be deemed productive.

"We've always argued the fact that anytime our fire department leaves the fire hall we're being productive, so there shouldn't be two rates," Chief Mike Kwasnica told Bolt FM.

In the past, if the fire department responded to a car crash and used the jaws of life to extricate someone from a vehicle, the call was deemed productive by SGI and compensated at a rate of $913 per hour.

But if the fire department provided medical assistance, traffic control or fluid cleanup, it was deemed unproductive and SGI paid only $549 per hour. 

That meant the department lost money on the call and the municipality would have to pick up the tab, Kwasnica said.

The Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association has said it will continue to work with SGI to increase the productive call rate to $1,200 per hour.

Third-party research commissioned by SUMA shows that current compensation rates, even for time deemed productive, are failing to fully cover costs incurred by fire departments, the group says.