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Fire officials tell Centerburg council new housing is likely to add about 23 runs per 100 homes
Summary
Fire department data presented to the Centerburg council showed total runs have risen in recent years and that the department’s eight-year average suggests roughly 23 emergency runs per 100 homes; chiefs warned that added housing and current staffing levels mean the village may need extra personnel or continued mutual aid.
Lieutenant Jacob Castle of the Central Hydrant Fire District told the Village of Centerburg council that the department’s eight‑year data show an average of about 23 runs per 100 homes, a metric staff used to estimate how new housing could affect call volume. “The 8‑year average is about 23 runs per 100 homes,” Castle said during a presentation of run-classification charts and census-based household counts.
The department reported total annual runs grew from roughly 899 in 2018 to about 1,144 in the most recent year, with 689 responses to residential structures last year. Fire leadership said using calls-per‑100‑households is a more reliable predictor of future demand than simple population ratios because it ties directly to coded response types and historical operational workload.
Fire Chief (presenting the department’s overall analysis) told council members that adding large numbers of homes would increase annual runs and highlighted current staffing pressure. “Right now, we need [an extra firefighter],” the chief said when asked whether the department could absorb the workload a 300‑home expansion would create. Council members asked whether the sewer‑treatment facility’s roughly 300‑home capacity (raised during the Q&A) would translate into an extra 70 runs a year; department staff said that estimate was consistent with their calls‑per‑100‑homes model but emphasized it remains an estimate.
Council members and staff pressed on operational capacity. The fire chief described the village’s typical drawdown — two vehicles on the road at the same time — and said sustained drawdowns of about 25% would require adding personnel. The department also relies on mutual and automatic aid from neighboring jurisdictions when multiple calls overlap; staff noted mutual aid is routine and part of local emergency planning.
Lieutenant Castle said the projection work pulled from U.S. Census data, county and state auditors’ records, and eight years of department reporting to create a per‑household calls metric. He described differences in call rates between single‑family dwellings and multi‑family structures and said the model will be updated annually.
The council did not take any formal action on staffing at the meeting but asked staff to keep projections updated and to return with additional analysis on capacity and potential costs for adding personnel. The department also noted efforts underway on insurance, drone operations and ongoing union negotiations that could affect timing for hiring or program expansion.
