King said the fire department has implemented some call reduction strategies with partners like Mercy Health — Springfield, Kettering Health Springfield and the Mental Health and Recovery Board of Clark, Greene and Madison Counties, identifying repeat callers who may not be taking medication correctly or following doctors’ orders, and figuring out how to reduce their need for emergency services.
“Our call volume is consistently increasing, so as you can see, 2023 was the busiest year on record,” King said. “So even with our call reduction strategies on the EMS side, we’re still seeing that increased volume.”
There were 498 fire calls, with 92 being for building fires, 58 for car fires and 348 being other fires, according to the post.
The department received 1,287 other requests for service in 2023, according to the post.
King said the department responded to 74 or 75 calls some days last year, which he said puts a significant strain on the system as a whole, with more dispatchers needed to call upon other emergency responders more often, and hospitals receiving more patients.
“One of the benefits of doing the consolidated dispatch center was being able to handle this increase and influx of calls, and they have significant new technology and more members there per day to all kind of work together to manage the calls not only for us but police and across the county,” King said. “So we’re seeing those increases all the way around.”
King said the department is “constantly evaluating” call volume and the growth of the city to meet it with the appropriate manpower and equipment. He said he hopes to better grasp these needs and make a plan to adjust accordingly in 2024.
“As we start to see some of these new housing developments go in, how do we grow responsibly with taxpayer dollars as they slowly get built and come into existence?” King said. “As each of the new businesses and everything that we’re seeing here with the city of Springfield with our outlook and growth that’s forecasted, we just want to sit down and be methodical and make sure that we’re doing it correctly and also making sure that we’re being great stewards of taxpayer dollars.”
The department has been “very progressive” over the past few years, bringing new programs and grants to fund initiatives like peer supports who help department members handle “traumatic and tragic” calls and behavioral health specialists from Kettering visiting the stations each month for training and additional support, King said. He said the fire rescue division recently received a grant to allow the union to come in and train some members to become fitness instructors which will help in injury prevention and recovery.
King said these are all available to the Springfield Police Division as well.
King was appointed fire chief in June after the April retirement of Brian Miller. He said he has enjoyed his tenure so far and looks forward to the future.
“City of Springfield residents should rest easy knowing there is a large group of professionals at the ready every moment of the day to just respond and support them and whatever their needs are,” King said.
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