FY2019 Arlington Fire Department Annual Report FY 2019 | Page 8

39.84%
increase in incidents
From 2010 to 2019, the AFD experienced a 39.84% increase
(33,012 to 46,164) in the number of emergency incidents. The
growth can be attributed to many factors including increased
population and commercial growth, along with numerous other
factors, with the most dominate factor identified as an increase in
EMS service demand.
The reason for such a sharp increase in emergency incidents is the increase in EMS serve demand
which makes up 80% of AFD’s demand for service. Providing a common-sense approach to the EMS
“Demand” issue which is founded on the principle of increasing the existing capacity of Department
resources to meet service demands before other options
are explored. By implementing two-person Light Response
Vehicles (LRVs) in areas of high medical call volume along with
other unit deployment strategies, the Department has been able
to slow the growth of unit responses to about 30% (46,164 to
60,043 unit responses) even though the increase of incidents
over the same ten year period was nearly 40%.
30%
Unit Response increase since 2010
In 2011, the first two-person EMS squad unit was implemented. Other two-person units have since
been deployed over the last decade, where today we can see seven LRV units active (depending
on staffing levels) to address increasing call demand. In 2019, LRVs accounted for 11,010-unit
responses or 18% of the total number of AFD unit responses. LRV units respond to EMS calls along
with AMR ambulances and keep the heavy fleet units available for more serious demand incidents.
Even with these innovative unit deployment strategies the Fire Department has seen an increase in
response times over the last decade. Overall average response times increased from 2010 to 2019
by 35 seconds. Crew turnout times remained consistent while response unit travel times increased by
35 seconds. The travel time increase can be directly attributed to several factors, but the prevailing
factor is the increase in unit demand.
increased response times over the last decade
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+0:38 +0:17 +0:23 +0:35
ems fire other all