Overdose crisis hitting Brandon ‘at scale’

When Gage Wood started working as a firefighter-paramedic in Brandon a decade ago, responding to an opioid overdose was “very rare.”

But now, emergency services are being called to more than 100 overdoses per year.

“I think that the whole community of Brandon is feeling the effects of the drug crisis … These are people that need help,” said Wood, the union president for Brandon Firefighter Paramedics Local 803.

“We might not have the same, you know, 66 kind of overdoses in one weekend, like Winnipeg, but we’re definitely dealing with this issue at scale in Brandon.”

Wood said the street drugs have become a lot stronger in recent years.

“We’re not just dealing with fentanyl anymore,” he said. “We’re dealing with carfentanil … There’s even things like tranquilizers being put into the drug supply now, and unfortunately, Narcan doesn’t work on everything.”

Carfentanil is a synthetic opioid about 10,000 times more potent than morphine and 100 times more potent than fentanyl. Narcan is the brand name for naloxone, a fast-acting medication used to reverse the effects of opioid overdoses.

People are also overdosing on methamphetamine and down or purple down, which comes in waves, Wood said.

Brandon Fire Emergency Services has responded to nearly 50 overdoses so far this year, Wood said. Of those calls, Narcan was administered more than 30 times.

In 2025, firefighter-paramedics responded to around 135 overdoses and Narcan was needed to revive someone in 60 of those cases, he said. In 2024, crews responded to more than 140 overdoses.

The data include emergency medical responses to all overdoses — from illicit drugs to Tylenol — and overlap with data from Brandon police because both emergency services may get dispatched to the same call for safety reasons, Wood said.

Brandon Police Service Sgt. Kirby Sararas said local firefighter-paramedics are the primary responders to overdoses in the city.

“We go in an assisting role just in case the person who is experiencing the overdose kind of becomes violent with paramedics or if they need assistance in any other manner,” she said.

Brandon police officers have responded to 13 overdoses this year as of May, and in one of those instances, someone died, data show.

Last year, police responded to 51 overdoses, and five of those resulted in death. In 2024, police were called to 52 overdoses, and 11 people could not be revived.

These numbers can change as autopsy and toxicology reports are completed, a BPS spokesperson said.

There was a total of 388 substance-related deaths across Manitoba in 2025, an overall decrease from 570 in 2024, preliminary data from the office of the chief medical examiner show.

The overdose crisis is a result of a toxic supply, with people ingesting substances they weren’t aware were cut with a combination of dangerous drugs, said Solange Machado, Brandon’s co-ordinator for the Manitoba Harm Reduction Network.

Communities typically see a spike in overdoses following a major drug bust because the supply becomes more potent and life-threatening, she said.

She estimates the number of overdoses occurring in the city is drastically higher than the official tallies because the majority of cases are successfully reversed by someone’s friend, family or community member who may not call 911.

“We always recommend that people call emergency services, but we just know that some people don’t have the means to, or there’s fear or other things preventing them,” she said.

Machado said she hears every week about people reviving others with Narcan without calling for medical help.

Narcan has become more readily accessible to the public, so it’s not uncommon for firefighter-paramedics to arrive on scene where someone has already been given naloxone to reverse an overdose.

“When you overdose on opioids, you stop breathing, so time is very critical when responding to these types of things because it needs to be reversed,” Wood said.

If an overdose has been reversed before emergency services get to the site, calls can instead be labelled as substance use, which are largely alcohol-related calls, Wood said.

Brandon Fire and Emergency Services has responded to about 120 substance use calls so far in 2026, with approximately 350 in 2025 and 220 in 2024, Wood said. The numbers for these calls are likely much higher as police are often dispatched instead, he said.

Firefighter-paramedics are also using higher dosages of Narcan because some substances, such as animal tranquilizers, don’t respond to the medication, Wood said.

Years ago, emergency crews used around 0.4 milligrams of Narcan to reverse a fentanyl overdose, he said. Since then, the highest dosage he’s seen administered was 14 milligrams.

“The other scary thing is that Narcan doesn’t last as long as some of the substances that people are taking,” he said.

Sometimes when an overdose has been reversed, people think they are fine and don’t need additional care at a hospital, but there’s a chance they could start overdosing again, Wood said.

Medical responses to overdoses don’t make up a huge portion of calls in the EMS system, but the city continues to be “taxed to the limit” with five local ambulances — two of which are dedicated to inter-facility transfers, he said.

Machado said the Manitoba Harm Reduction Network supplies individuals and community outreach groups like Brandon Bear Clan patrol with harm reduction supplies, including naloxone kits and fentanyl test strips.

“It’s important for people to be aware that there is toxic drugs in the community, and if they feel comfortable, carry naloxone because you never know when it could … be the difference of saving someone’s life,” she said.

Jade Gamblin, a patrol supervisor with Brandon Bear Clan, said community members frequently ask them for Narcan during their patrols, but the group doesn’t have enough supply to hand it out.

Hearing about how many people are overdosing in the community is “heartbreaking … because addiction is real in Brandon. Instability, poverty, the mental health crisis — a lot of people are struggling,” she said.

Gamblin said more harm reduction education is needed in the area because not everyone knows what to do when they find a needle on the ground.

Data from the Indigenous-led group show volunteers picked up more than 1,400 needles last year and more than 11,000 since June 2017.

This year, volunteers have safely disposed between 30 to 150 needles, stems or bubble pipes per patrol.

» tadamski@brandonsun.com