SIDNEY — With the first quater of 2022 coming to a close, the Sidney Department of Fire and Emergency Services (SDFES) has taken stock of their statistics for the start of the year.
So far in 2022 the Sidney Department of Fire and Emergency Services (SDFES) has responded to 1004 incidents, which averages out to 11.2 incidents per day, according to SDFES Chief Chad Hollinger.
Additionally, SDFES crews have responded to 267 fire incidents with 12 of them being building fires resulting in one civilian fatality and one civilian injury. Fire incidents make up 26.6% of the incidents so far this year.
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) calls account for 737 incidents, or 73.4% of incidents. Out of the 737 EMS incidents, department personnel completed 616 EMS transports — 309 Advanced Life Support and 307 Basic Life Support — with 43 of those transports requiring an emergency transport, involving lights and sirens.
SDFES has received mutual aid for four incidents in 2022 and gave mutual aid 14 times. During 307 incidents the department had multiple incidents, or overlap, occurring.
“This means that 30.6% of our 1004 incidents required all or most of our on-duty personnel to handle the incidents at that time. The department continues to operate with 10 personnel per shift with a minimum daily staffing of eight,” Hollinger said.
Hollinger added that the department is currently accepting applications for Firefighter/EMT-Paramedics. The application process closes on April 19, 2022 at 4 p.m. The department has been authorized to hire three personnel this year.
“When the daily staffing is brought back to 11 personnel per day, the department will return to the same staffing level as 1999,” Hollinger said.
In 1999 the department responded to 2986 incidents, or 8.2 incidents per day. According to Hollinger, at the current pace of 11.2 incidents per day, the department will surpass 2986 incidents on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022.
“As the city grows and the demand for service increases, more personnel are needed to be available to respond,” Hollinger said.
Finally, department personnel have completed 1639.5 hours of training during the first quarter. This averages out to 46.8 hours per department member. Members of the department have received training on Greater Miami Valley EMS protocol, Ohio Trauma Triage, Fire Officer training, Basic Life Support, Pediatric Advanced Life Support, Cardiology, confined space rescue, fire protection systems, hose deployment, Compressed Air Foam System (CAFS), fire investigation, radio communications, Hazardous Materials, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA), and swift water and ice rescue. Personnel train almost every shift they work to maintain their proficiency and certifications.
“Our department has had a busy quarter with incidents and training. We are excited to move forward with the hiring process and look forward to bringing new personnel in to our department family. Thank you for the opportunity to serve and protect our community,” Hollinger said.
