The Vancouver Fire Department met and beat its standards for response times in 2015, according to Chief Joe Molina.
The clock on the response time starts when a call is received at the firehouse and ends when the first unit arrives at the fire. The response time number reflects the 90th percentile — that is, 90 percent of calls should have a response time equal to or faster than that number.
For higher-priority calls, the department’s standard to meet is a 7 minute 59 second response time. The department’s arrival time at the 90th percentile mark was 7 minutes and 45 seconds.
Vancouver firefighters and emergency medical workers responded to more than 11,000 higher-priority calls, according to the department.
For lower-priority calls, where the standard is 10 minutes 59 seconds, the department responded in 8 minutes 45 seconds.
For low-priority nonmedical calls, such as for people falling out of bed and needing help, the department beat the standards by a few minutes.
There were more than 26,000 total medical and rescue calls in 2015, according to the department’s records. Almost 9,000 of those, which were the lowest-priority medical calls, were handled by the city’s ambulance service contractor American Medical Response.
“We had about a 9.7 percent increase in call activity last year. Much of that comes from (outside) fire activity, but there’s also a chunk that occurs in the emergency medical area. We’re just seeing consistent increases,” Deputy Chief Dan Olson said.
It’s not clear why the increase occurred, he said, adding that when the recession hit, most fire departments around the state saw call volumes drop or flatten.
Mayor Tim Leavitt and Councilor Bart Hanson asked if response-time standards should be tightened, considering that the department managed to get to lower-priority calls well within the standard.
The city set the department’s response-time standards in 2013.
Molina said the council may, if it chooses, alter response standards. He said the department is working to refine how it measures response times as it assesses its contract with AMR, along with other department initiatives.
Olson noted that the difference in standards between high- and low-priority calls takes into account the fact that fire trucks and ambulances don’t drive to low-priority calls with lights and sirens on.
Molina said the department is working to shave further seconds off its response times, including improving turnout times from the station for high-priority calls and working with the county 911 center to reduce the number of false alarms.
Molina said the department’s two planned stations will affect response times.
Molina also recommended that the department continue with its rescue vehicle pilot program. The rescue vehicle, a sport-utility vehicle staffed with two people, responds to lower-level incidents during peak service hours, freeing up larger vehicles to respond quickly when needed elsewhere.
