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City receives 2024 Fire Department annual report; department outlines training gains, response data
Summary
The Fire Department presented its 2024 annual report, reporting 2,785 calls for service, expanded training and a new records and plan-review system, and noting a retrogression in its insurance protection classification.
The City Council received the Fire Department's 2024 annual report Thursday, with department representative Tom Shingles summarizing calls, equipment and training work completed during the year.
Shingles said the department handled 2,785 calls for service in 2024, with rescue and medical incidents making up "a little over 71%" and fires about "a little over 3%" of calls. "We had a total of 2,785 calls for service," he said. "Rescue and medical accounted for the majority of those, a little over 71%, and fires accounted for a little over 3% of those." He reported 92 fires last year, 43 of them structure fires, and said July saw the most fires with 19.
The report covered staffing, training and equipment upgrades. Shingles highlighted an emphasis on training started in 2023 that continued through 2024, including fire officer courses and technical rescue certifications. He said the department expanded its record-management work and adopted an electronic plan-review system called Bluebeam to streamline reviews with architects and contractors.
The department also regained delegated authority from the State Fire Marshal's Office for plan reviews and inspections for certain licensed occupancies, Shingles said, and noted improvements in mobile food vendor inspections'conducting 25 inspections after outreach and self-reporting tools were posted online.
Shingles addressed response-time goals and classification outcomes. The department aims for a five-minute dispatch-to-on-scene standard and met that target about 65% of the time in 2024; he noted the national benchmark is roughly 90%. On the Public Protection Classification used by insurers, Shingles said the city's rating regressed from a 3 to a 4 after a 2022 evaluation and subsequent retrogression analysis. He said water-supply scoring was strong and that deployment and personnel levels were the primary shortfalls identified.
Council members praised the department's work and asked follow-up questions about training and staffing. Shingles said the department hired two personnel in 2024 and that most staff are certified as EMTs; the department has one paramedic and several advanced-level personnel. He also described a recently purchased apparatus (Engine 3, a 2002 Pierce pumper equipped with a 2,000-gallon-per-minute pump, 750 gallons of water and a compressed-air foam system) that has been used successfully.
The presentation concluded with council discussion about resource trade-offs and the department's use of mutual aid with neighboring jurisdictions.
The council took no formal action on the report; it was received for the record.
