Fire emergency calls show decrease in ’20
The number of calls the Pine Bluff Fire and Emergency Services Department responded to in 2020 decreased by more than 700 from 2019, according to a report from the fire chief released Friday.
The department totaled 4,453 responses for 2020, compared to 5,270 responses in the previous year. Chief Shauwn Howell said a large number of calls were covid-19-related and were triaged since the start of the pandemic.
“We partnered with dispatch, which is MECA,” Howell said, referring to the Metropolitan Emergency Communications Association. “They started screening a lot more related calls. We wanted to go on more life-threatening emergencies. We triaged. Through that process, there were some calls that were emergency but not to the point where you need the fire department. The association answered a few more calls if we were truly needed because we do not transport.”
Before the triages, the fire department responded to every call,
Howell said. But the new protocol was installed to minimize person-to-person contact and protect department workers, he added.
“If we’re needed, we’re coming,” Howell said. “If not, we’re going to practice social distancing to minimize person-to-person contact.”
January 2020’s count of 419 calls exceeded the number for January 2019 by 21, but the calls for each of the following 11 months were lower than 12
months earlier.
Emergency medical services calls accounted for 2,123, or about 48%, of the department’s responses in 2020. The count in 2019 was 2,836, which made up about 54% of the responses.
Structure fires (138), calls of alarms sounded (346), false calls (288) and incidents categorized as “other” (1,091) trended slightly lower than in the year before. Vehicle fires (91); brush, grass and rubbish fires (101); motor vehicle accidents with injuries (274); and hazardous materials (1) trended upward.
Responses last month trended lower than the month before and the previous January. There were 307, including 152 emergency medical responses, 21 regarding vehicle accidents with injuries, seven structure fires (three considered arson), 21 vehicle accidents with injuries, 28 false alarms and 78 categorized as other.
Of the 401 responses in December, 153 were for medical responses, 29 were vehicle accidents with injuries, 25 were for structure fires, 12 were vehicle fires, 30 were false alarms and 122 were not categorized.