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Council hears that calls from Station 4 into Atlanta rose; mutual-aid and replacement plans discussed
Summary
Council members asked about an increase in Station 4 responses into the city of Atlanta; staff said year-to-date calls show 728 incidents with 34 into Atlanta (about 18%) and that vehicle outages on Atlanta'side units contributed to past increases; replacement of Station 4 is included in planned borrowing.
Council members pressed staff about increased responses by Station 4 into the city of Atlanta during the budget presentation on May 27.
Tony Mitton and public-safety staff provided a breakdown: overall, Mitton earlier stated that about 14% of Station 4's incidents historically went into Atlanta, but staff later supplied a year-to-date figure for 2025 showing 728 total incidents with 34 of those calls going into Atlanta, which the presenter noted is about 18% year-to-date.
Council members and the fire chief discussed possible reasons for the increase. The chief said a portion of the rise is tied to Atlanta units being out of service (vehicle breakdowns and equipment outages), which led to more automatic responses across jurisdictions. Council members raised the option of seeking changes to the mutual-aid arrangement and discussed long-term solutions; staff noted that the mutual-aid agreement remains in effect and that replacing Station 4 is factored into the planned debt issuance discussed elsewhere in the budget.
Why it matters: increasing out-of-jurisdiction responses affect workload for Sandy Springs fire crews and factor into capital-planning decisions about station replacement and fleet readiness.
Follow-up: staff said they will bring more detail about call volumes and the timeline for equipment replacements from neighboring agencies, and the mutual-aid topic will be part of a separate discussion soon.
