The OAFED provides fire services and EMS services at the Paramedic level to the residents and visitors of the OAFED. Using the daily in-house staffing, crews staff two ambulances and one fire apparatus. Those crews and apparatus respond to all fire and EMS incidents within the district and help neighboring communities. Typically, this staffing model can handle two simultaneous incidents, however, this leaves the fire station absent of personnel, where responses are then delayed while off-duty personnel respond to the fire station.
Call Volume
In 2018, OAFED ambulances responded to 966 incidents. That number has risen to 1285 in 2024. This is a 25% increase in EMS services in the last seven years. Of those, 10% of the responses are done utilizing the second ambulance. When this is done, the fire station is depleted of available fire personnel to staff additional fire apparatus. In addition, that means there are no ambulances available to respond to additional incidents, and responses are delayed while waiting for mutual aid to respond within the fire/EMS district
In 2022, after a change in operations, fire responses were at 427 incidents. In 2024, fire apparatus responded to 512 incidents. This is an increase of 17% in fire incidents within the last three years. These incidents are handled by the daily staffed fire engine, and supplemented with off-duty personnel with a delayed response. Such incidents include any type of fire (building or wildland), motor vehicle crashes, natural gas leaks, etc.
What Does This Mean
As the Village and the fire/EMS district grow in terms of buildings and population, so does the need for fire and EMS services. Often, the fire/EMS station is left with little to no personnel available to respond to simultaneous incidents. As much as our neighboring communities grow, so does their need for assistance for both fire and EMS incidents.
1710 and 1720
To meet the needs of the community, it should be a priority to respond to the 1710 standards as previously outlined. That means providing an immediate response of 80 seconds for a fire apparatus, and 60 seconds for an ambulance. This dispatch-to-enroute time is crucial when a subject in cardiac arrest has up to six minutes of reserve oxygen before brain death, and has a small window for reversing terminal cardiac rhythms. In terms of a fire apparatus response, a fire can double in size every 30 – 60 seconds. As an example, within 8 minutes, a fire can grow 64 times in size.