THE ANNUAL
Between June and September, Firehouse magazine released its annual
run survey in four parts. This year the survey was only published in
digital format on their website. With the report now out in full, let’s go
over a few of the highlights from the statistical year 2018.
Part one (Fire Department Profiles) focuses on fire department
population served, plus items such as budget and resources. With
information from the report we can calculate the approximate dollar
amount spent per person annually for fire services in Southern
California. Our quick math reveals that Los Angeles County Fire
Department spends about $267 per person, Orange County Fire
Authority is at around $236, Los Angeles City Fire spends approximately
$164 and, finally, San Bernardino County Fire is at roughly $134 per
person annually.
Part two reviews call volume rankings, including the busiest engine
and ladder companies. The most outstanding figure here is that County
Fire collectively ran 171,086 calls last year—more than San Francisco,
by comparison. Our total ranks third in California and number 13 out of
185 departments reporting nationwide! With a total of 6,678 runs, San
Bernardino’s Medic Engine 224 remains the undisputed champion within
our agency, ranking eighth out of 184 reporting engine companies.
That’s an average of nearly 19 calls a shift—not to mention countless
trips up and down the stairs at Station 224. Honorable mention goes
out to ME222 with 6,084, ME221 with 5,475 and ME221A with 5,338.
Among aerial ladder apparatus, Medic Truck 304 in Hesperia ranked
13th out of 183 reporting companies with 4,324 calls; the truck is third
in California behind L.A. County’s Quint 33 and San Francisco’s Truck 3.
Part three highlights the busiest chiefs, fire stations, ambulances,
Hazmat units and heavy rescues. Battalion Chief 148 from the
North Desert was our most called-upon chief officer with 560 calls.
Meanwhile, Victorville’s Station 311 was County Fire’s busiest station
last year with 13,487 calls, good for the number 19 spot out of 183
reporting agencies. These totals break down to an average of one call
every 38 minutes, every day, for 12 months. With Victorville no longer
part of the County Fire family, we may speculate that some of us may
miss this kind of call volume, while many won’t. Station 221 in San
Bernardino ran just 400 calls fewer than 311’s last year, meaning we
should have a pretty obvious new call-volume champ looking towards
next year’s results.
Our ambulance operator (AO) crews have been hard at work,
particularly in Hesperia. Medic Ambulance 302 from the east side of
18 FIREWIRE • FALL 2019
By Andrew Ball
the city ran 2,794 calls, with sister rig MA302A right behind at 2,649.
We give a lot of credit to our AOs for their diligent work among many
sleepless nights, often spent on bed delay at local hospitals.
Fontana’s Hazmat 73 ranked 44th out of 105 reporting agencies with
123 calls last year, while Rescue 72 responded to a total of 231 calls.
Part four of the Firehouse survey reports statistics on fire department
pay scales and staffing. A total of 16 departments in California reported.
Annual starting firefighter salaries varied from $46,000 in Oroville to
$76,000 in San Francisco. Top step firefighters ranged from $62,000
to $117,000 in those same cities. We are all well aware of what our pay
scale was last year and what it will be in the future. We look forward
to next year when we can report that our scale is more commensurate
with the premier fire service organization that we have become.
It’s exciting to look back at our statistics to see what changes we’ve
made and how we’ve grown and evolved; the Firehouse survey is one
tool that helps us do this. We look forward to next year’s survey after
another year of exciting growth and change here at County Fire!
Interested in viewing the complete report?
If so please visit: www.firehouse.com/run-surveys
2017 2018
Total Number
of Runs 213,259 171,086
Busiest Fire
Station 311 - 13,449 311 - 13,487
Busiest Engine ME224 - 6,922 ME224 - 6,678
Busiest Truck MT304 - 3,623 MT304 - 4,324
Busiest
Ambulance MA304 - 2,927 MA302 - 2,794
Andrew Ball is a firefighter/paramedic currently assigned to Station 23 in Grand
Terrace. Ball is a Tower 7 graduate and member of the EMS Equipment Committee.
FALL 2019 • FIREWIRE 19