Citizen Portal
Sign In

Watertown officials flag rising fire response times; chief says more data needed

Watertown Common Council · October 22, 2025

Loading...

AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Council members pressed the fire chief about 90th‑percentile turnout and travel times after data showed higher times since station changes. Chief Raymond said staff are improving time reporting and will break the data down by crew and apparatus; aldermen urged continued monitoring and faster improvements where possible.

Watertown Fire Chief Raymond told the Common Council on Oct. 21 that staff are tracking OptiCon and response‑time benchmarks and working to improve both turnout and travel times.

“That's exactly what I'm referring to,” Fire Chief Raymond said, referring to the 90th‑percentile alarm‑to‑on‑route and alarm‑to‑arrival numbers in the Oct. packet. He added that staff are focusing on accuracy of time reporting and will break the numbers down “by crew and by apparatus” to identify where improvements are possible.

Council members expressed concern after data in the packet showed higher travel times in early 2025. “From January 1 to May 14 and then May 15 to July 16…we have seen an increase of roughly 45 seconds per call,” Ald. Blanky said, noting the growth in travel time between two study periods and warning that a fire can double in size every 30–60 seconds.

The chief said some increases reflect station size and workflow changes and stressed the department is pursuing small operational fixes, improved reporting, and use of OptiCon and other measures to reduce turnout. “We can break it down by crew and by apparatus…we're doing some friendly competition as well,” Raymond said.

Several council members urged patience while more data accumulates. “I think it is very preliminary to make any kind of comparisons,” Ald. Burt said, recommending three to six months of additional monitoring before drawing firm conclusions about the new station’s effect on response times.

The council made no formal policy change at the meeting. The chief said the department will continue to report updated OptiCon and 90th‑percentile measures to the council and can provide crew‑level breakdowns on request.