Safety
Safety Services
HRM has a Police Department, a Fire Department and ambulance services to ensure the safety of its residents.
Fire
With 51 fire stations across HRM, the Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency (HRFE) services serves and protects Halifax’s residents and has been doing so since 1754, being the oldest fire department in Canada.
The HRFE provides a wide range of services, like:
- fire prevention (fire inspections and code enforcement, fire investigations and public fire safety education)
- fire suppression and rescue
- technical rescue (auto extrication, machinery, ice water, high-angle rope, trench, and confined space rescue, collapse rescue)
- hazardous materials response including chemical, biological, radioactive, nuclear, and explosive
- pre-hospital emergency medical services
- emergency management
Visit their Prevention and Safety site for more information about how you can prevent and detect fires, and keep you and your family safe.
If you want to go camping or burn fires at your backyard, it is important to check the Provincial burning restrictions to prevent any accidents, particularly during wildfire risk season. Keep in mind that these restrictions change every day.
Emergency Line 911
911 is the phone number for all emergencies in Halifax and Nova Scotia. It is important to keep in mind that this number should be used for emergencies ONLY.
For police non-emergencies, call 902-490-5020. Someone will answer 24 hours a day.
Police
Halifax has both a municipal police service (Halifax Regional Police or HRP) and a contracted police service (Royal Canadian Mounted Police or RCMP). The Halifax Regional Police is mostly responsible for the urban areas, and the RCMP works mostly in the sub-urban and rural areas.
Both the HRP and the RCMP focus on community issues and use the community-response model of policing. A couple of examples about how this model works are:
- Communities work with a Community Response Officer to identify and resolve problems
- Patrol officers work in certain areas so the officers can get to know the community and help with quality-of-life and safety issues
- If an incident involves the personal characteristics of a particular community, such as their religion, this might be a Hate Crime or a Hate Incident, and the HRP Hate Crime Unit may become involved in the police response
Victim Services Unit of Halifax Regional Police
The Victim Services Unit of the Halifax Regional Police provides helpful services to victims of crime, especially domestic abuse. Victim Services provides crisis intervention, support and referrals to victims. Any person contacting this Unit has the right to choose to stay anonymous.
Housing in Halifax
If you're looking to purchase a home, rent an apartment, or learn about municiple housing services, visit the "Housing" section.