Evanston firefighters responded to a record number of calls in 2016 – including extra alarm fires in April that occurred the same day, two hours apart, seeing highest volume since 1987, according to a report presented at last Monday’s city council meeting.
“It was a very busy year. In fact, we again topped our calls for service,” said Evanston Fire Department Chief Brian Scott.
Calls for service totaled 10,267 in 2016, according to Scott’s report and presentation. Of those, 62 percent, or 6,441, were for emergency medical services. More than 3,820 were for fire response.
That’s up from 9,630 calls in 2015, of which 5,994 were emergency medical service calls and 3,636 for fire responses, according to the 2015 report.
The Evanston Fire Department employs 107 sworn firefighters and three civilian support staff, according to the report. The department works out of five fire stations and has five engines and three ambulances.
Along with fighting fires, the fire department responds to reports of vehicle accidents, odor investigations, water leaks and wires down, among other issues, said Deputy Chief Paul Polep.
The number of calls for service has grown as Evanston’s population and Northwestern University’s student count has expanded, and as more events are held around the city, among other reasons, Polep said.
Scott especially boasted of the department’s average response time: three minutes and two seconds. That’s how long, on average, it took for firemen to arrive on scene after receiving the call for service. Evanston’s response time was less than the national standard of four minutes and Scott credited that lower time with saving both lives and property.
The department estimated nearly $90 million in saved property in 2015 and $264 million saved in 2016, according to the reports.
“The fact that we had zero (fire) fatalities in 2016 we can attribute partly to the fact of those response times,” Scott said.
Evanston firemen are also certified paramedics, officials said.
And in a case where firemen are called for someone suffering a heart attack, for example, “every minute of delay causes a reduction in survival by 7 to 10 percent,” Scott said.
In 2016 the department extinguished 114 fires, according to the report. That’s up from 99 fires put out in 2015.
Both years the department saved 98 percent of property involved, officials said.
For 2017, Scott said, he plans to work with the telecommunications center to finish upgrading the computer aided dispatch system and fire incident reporting system.
Scott also hopes to implement emergency medical reporting and mapping software, improve and expand fire and life safety education programs for grade school kids and recertify paramedics in advanced cardiac life support, among other projects, according to the report.
The 2016 annual report was Scott’s first to be presented before the Evanston City Council since he was sworn in as chief in January. He served most recently as deputy chief of operations and training, where he led fire suppression efforts and managed the department’s fire prevention bureau.
gbookwalter@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @GenevieveBook
