Chatham County Fire Department reports lower fire calls, expanding community paramedic responses

At Thursday's Chatham County Commission meeting, the Fire Chief (name not specified in the public record excerpt) presented the department's quarterly operational report, citing a decline in fire responses and expanded community paramedic activity.

Key figures from the presentation: fire responses are down about 8% compared with the same point last year; the Community Paramedic/Behavioral Health Unit program has logged 903 calls since Jan. 1, with about 725 patient contacts and the remainder canceled or otherwise not resulting in patient contact. The department told commissioners the clinician-verified biospatial dataset shows 6,802 countywide incidents coded for mental-health, overdose or related behavioral-health issues.

The chief said the current recruit firefighter class is entering week 19 next week, with 14 candidates remaining in the cohort and a planned graduation on Oct. 23. The department reported about 30 vacant firefighter positions; recent hiring brought four new staff on board and additional candidates are in the pipeline. The chief said the department would likely schedule another recruit academy.

Other highlights: the department ran a girls' fire camp in July, plans to offer a boys' camp next year, participated in conference presentations and community resource fairs, and sent BHU staff to study best practices in San Antonio. The chief said the department is stepping up outreach and anticipates a request to increase staffing in Building Safety and Regulatory Services to strengthen enforcement of short-term rental and code compliance complaints.

Fire Prevention Week is Oct. 5-11; the department said the theme will emphasize lithium-ion battery safety in household devices. The chief invited commissioners to the recruit graduation and reminded them that the department provides smoke-alarm installations and home-safety checks via an online request or by calling headquarters.

Ending: Commissioners asked follow-up questions about staff levels and burnout risk; the chief said two additional BHU/community-paramedic positions were hired recently, a clinician will start in October, and staff are monitoring workload to avoid attrition.