Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
OCFA tells Garden Grove council it saved lives in 2025; city runs slightly above OCFA average in response volume
Summary
The Orange County Fire Authority reported 15,577 responses in Garden Grove in 2025 (including 364 fires and about 12,000 medical aids); OCFA division leaders highlighted higher‑than‑average ROSC (return of spontaneous circulation) rates — 29–31% compared with national averages around 23–25% — and emphasized community CPR and grant‑funded equipment upgrades.
Garden Grove, Calif. — Division Chief Kobe of the Orange County Fire Authority presented the OCFA Division 1 year‑end report to the Garden Grove City Council on Feb. 10, describing a busy year for firefighters and emergency medical personnel and several measurable improvements in life‑saving outcomes.
OCFA reported 183,865 system‑wide responses in 2025, a roughly 3–4% increase overall, with Division 1 — which includes Garden Grove — running more than 32,500 calls. Garden Grove itself recorded 15,577 calls last year: 364 fires, about 12,000 medical aids and more than 3,000 other service calls. Chief Kobe noted Garden Grove’s per‑capita incident rate equates to roughly 0.09 incidents per person, slightly higher than the OCFA city average.
A major emphasis of the presentation was cardiac arrest response. Chief Kobe highlighted the division’s higher‑than‑average return‑of‑spontaneous‑circulation (ROSC) performance: “our paramedics are 29 to 31% on average in getting pulses back,” he said, citing the national comparison of roughly 23–25% and describing recent cases where paramedic and bystander CPR contributed to full recoveries — including a one‑year‑old who left the hospital and a soccer‑field incident where a patient was talking before hospital arrival.
OCFA also reported community‑education activity (more than 200 community events across the division, with 85 in Garden Grove alone), more than 3,000 fire prevention actions locally, and investments in new apparatus and equipment paid in part by grants: new engines and trucks, upgraded cardiac monitors and replacement breathing apparatus. The division emphasized outreach to promote bystander CPR and noted dispatch performance that outpaces national benchmarks for time‑to‑dispatch.
Council members thanked OCFA for rapid responses and for public‑education efforts; several noted areas for continued improvement such as Station 80 along Brookhurst and ongoing facility upgrades. OCFA said it will maintain five‑minute coverage goals during the transition of truck assignments and facility moves tied to the Civic Center project.
Next steps: OCFA and city staff will continue coordinating on station locations, public‑education timing for CPR training and planned apparatus deployments tied to grant funding.
