Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Fire Department topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Miami County fire coordinator: volunteers ran 496 incidents in first quarter; EMS assists fell
Summary
Fire coordinator Mark Whalen told the Miami County Board of Commissioners volunteers handled 496 incidents in the first quarter, with EMS assists falling from 104 in 2025 to 60 in 2026. He also reported multiple large structure fires and urged improved apparatus-arrival metrics.
Mark Whalen, Miami County fire coordinator, told commissioners the county’s volunteer forces "ran a total of 496 incidents" in the first quarter and that responses in the unincorporated fire district numbered 301.
Whalen said EMS assists dropped sharply year over year: "1st 0.25 was 2025, we ran 104 calls to assist EMS. 1st 0.25 for 2026, we ran 60." He attributed part of the drop to fewer critically ill patients and fewer false automated crash notifications from devices such as smartwatches.
Whalen described timing and reporting caveats: turnout and arrival times in the records can reflect a chief officer or volunteer responding first rather than the first fire apparatus on scene, and he said he is working to extract apparatus-arrival data for more accurate metrics. He also noted the grassfire season started later than usual and that volunteer recruitment remains a challenge: "Numbers are a little down… they're just not getting any applicants."
On losses, Whalen summarized a recent large house fire outside Paola and said the county logged "a little over $2,000,000 in loss" with a pre-incident value of just over $3,000,000. He also reported training figures and burn-permit activity: 84 volunteers attended training accounting for nearly 1,400 training hours, and the department issued 633 new burn permits in the quarter while dispatch authorized hundreds of burns.
The commission thanked Whalen for the report and moved the remaining fire-department items to later business. Commissioners asked Whalen to return with apparatus-arrival timing once he can extract the data from the records system.
