Dallas Fire and EMS reports rising call volume, seeks funding for aging apparatus

Dallas Fire and EMS Chief April Wallace presented the department's 2024 annual report to the Dallas City Council at a work session on May 5, 2025, detailing increased call volume, equipment needs and staffing and training initiatives.

"I'm gonna present to you tonight our Dallas Fire and EMS annual report for the year 2024," Wallace said, outlining services from fire suppression and technical rescue to interfacility ambulance transfers and community risk reduction work.

Wallace told the council the department handled 5,518 calls for service in 2024, including 1,153 interfacility transfers handled in part by the transfer medic unit; the transfer medic accounted for 689 of those transfers. The department made 2,364 trips to Salem hospitals in 2024 (about 6.5 trips per day) and recorded 690 transports to West Valley Hospital. Wallace said the department also logged 70,648 round-trip miles for Salem transfers alone.

Nut graf: The presentation framed two immediate challenges for Dallas: replacing aging, high-mileage apparatus and managing sharply increased utilization of ambulance and EMS resources, problems the chief said the department is addressing through grants, ARPA allocations and training partnerships.

Wallace described recent equipment acquisitions and replacements funded in part with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars, including a 2024 Spartan engine and a 2023 Ford F-450…