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Fire chief reports busiest year on record; city weighs station and staffing upgrades
Summary
Fire Chief Corey Matheny presented the Bloomington Fire Department's 2024 annual report showing record call volumes (14,165 incidents), a 76% share of EMS calls, hiring of 19 new staff, and identified gaps in coverage that staff propose addressing with station needs assessment, traffic signal preemption upgrades and adding a fifth ambulance.
Fire Chief Corey Matheny told the City Council on Monday that Bloomington’s Fire Department recorded its busiest year on record in 2024 and outlined operational trends, equipment upgrades and planned capital investments to improve response times and capacity.
“2024 marked the busiest year ever with 14,165 incidents,” Matheny said, noting the department hired 19 new personnel last year and that emergency medical services continued to account for roughly 76% of responses. He said the department’s average response time was about 4 minutes, 50 seconds and its 90th‑percentile response time was 7 minutes, 9 seconds; National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) guidance sets a benchmark of 5 minutes and 20 seconds for fire incidents.
Matheny said the department operates five stations and that call distribution is uneven; headquarters units handled a disproportionate share of calls and the “busy map” data showed many calls falling outside the four‑minute drive radius for several stations. To address coverage gaps, the department is pursuing a station needs assessment and standards‑of‑cover analysis to identify locations and station sizing needs; Matheny said staff will bring recommendations on land parcel size and potential station investments.
The department also plans technical improvements, including traffic signal preemption upgrades for about 89 intersections (to be supported by engineering grants) intended to improve travel times on primary corridors, Matheny said. Other FY25–26 priorities include adding a fifth ambulance to improve ambulance capacity, HVAC and sprinkler work at certain stations and continued investment in EMS equipment: new powered cots, power stair chairs, Lucas CPR devices and cardiac monitors.
Matheny reported a rise in structure fires (up about 8.6%) and a 15% increase in false alarms, which the department and development services are addressing through inspections and outreach. He described a recent strategic planning process that updated the department’s mission, vision and values and noted the department logged roughly 15,000 training hours in 2024.
Council members asked for additional breakdowns and demographic context. Member Monty asked whether the heat‑map readings were normalized by population density; Matheny said staff can provide additional layers and work with GIS. Member Ward and others discussed the EMS workload and community health drivers; Matheny and councilors discussed opportunities to partner with public health, academic nursing programs and the dispatch center’s triage capabilities to reduce avoidable EMS calls.
No formal action was taken; Matheny said the department will continue the standards‑of‑cover work and return with specific facility and staffing recommendations for council consideration.
