Salisbury Fire Chief: 2024 was busiest year on record, EMS calls drive growth

Fire Chief Rob Frampton told the Salisbury City Council on Feb. 10 that the Salisbury Fire Department ran a record 17,026 calls in 2024, an increase driven largely by emergency medical services (EMS).

"Total calls were up 4.3%... EMS calls were 12,623," Frampton said, adding the combined total was "by far the busiest fire department on the Eastern Shore." He stated EMS calls outside the city were up about 12% year-over-year while calls inside city limits rose about 3%.

Frampton said a substantial share of call volume involves skilled-nursing facilities: "In 2024, we had 1,621 calls at skilled nursing facilities, which is about 12.8% of our total call volume." He told council that roughly three-quarters of those calls end without patient transport and that a recent draft memorandum of understanding (MOU) with one large facility would allow nurse practitioners from the department’s SWIFT and MDCN programs to treat more patients on site.

Frampton also described operational strains tied to countywide mutual-aid changes. He said county fire chiefs now require multiple-unit responses for high-speed highways, which leads Salisbury to send larger fire units into incidents and to rely more often on outside EMS units. "As units weren't available necessarily to handle calls within our fire district, we had to rely more and more upon units that outside to come in to help us," Frampton said.

The department reported improved clinical outcomes despite pressure on resources: Frampton said the department resuscitated 24 people after cardiac arrests last year, a 26% resuscitation rate compared with a cited national average of about 8%. He reported one civilian fire fatality recorded by the state that the department had not been dispatched to and described $44 million in property and contents saved versus about $3 million lost to fire.

Frampton highlighted several programs intended to reduce low-acuity EMS calls and repeat responses. He described SWIFT, a team that conducts home fall-risk assessments and daily monitoring of about 200 enrolled patients; the MDCN mobile low-acuity unit (the “purple car”), which treated 125 people on scene in 2024 and reduced hospital costs; and a two-person tactical medic team that supported police agencies without civilian or officer injuries in 29 incidents.

He also said the department was selected as one of the first 100 participants in NEARIS, a federal replacement for the National Fire Incident Reporting System. "We're one of the first 100 departments in the country to be a part of that," Frampton said.

Council and staff agreed to publish the chief’s slide presentation with the meeting minutes so the public could review the data, and Frampton answered council questions about mutual-aid funding and volunteer staffing. He said the department had recruited 12 new volunteers since July 1 and that volunteers had purchased drones for preplans, search-and-rescue and post-incident mapping.

The presentation and supporting slides were to be made available through the city clerk’s office for public review, per council consensus.