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Article highlights changing trend in fire service as responses for EMS continue to grow
From excerpts on MySuburbanLife.com:
Chief Tony Huemann of the McHenry Township Fire Protection District grew up dreaming of confronting a burning building. While he's had ample chances to live that dream over his long firefighting career, advancements in fire safety and rising demands for medical assistance have made such incidents far less common.
It seems the responsibilities of being a firefighter are evolving over time. Fire-related calls are declining while emergency medical services continue to see increased demand. Huemann noted that aspiring firefighters now must be paramedics upon application and usually require more formal education than in the past. He also mentioned that current firefighters undergo regular training to keep their skills sharp, even though they're used less frequently.
For the Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Fire Protection District, medical responses have consistently surpassed fire responses since 2001, according to district data. In that time, medical calls rose from representing 53% of total responses to 68%, while fire responses dropped from 47% to 32%.
In Crystal Lake, the fire and rescue department, which merged fire and EMS services back in 1980, saw nearly double the number of EMS calls last year compared to 2000. Fire calls decreased significantly too, with only 56 fire responses in 2014 versus 169 in 2003.
These trends align with national statistics. The National Fire Protection Association reports a 58.5% drop in fire calls from 1980 to 2013, while medical calls surged by 323% during the same period. Ken Willette, manager of the association’s public fire protection division, attributed this change to improved fire safety measures in commercial and residential buildings due to modern fire codes.
Looking ahead, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a 7% growth in firefighter jobs from 2012 to 2022, largely driven by an aging population that relies more heavily on emergency medical services.
Woodstock Fire Chief Ralph Webster mentioned considering reallocating personnel to handle this shift. "We're discussing putting more resources into managing emergency medical calls and shifting focus away from fire apparatus," Webster stated. "Our job has fundamentally changed."
As communities evolve, so do the roles of firefighters, requiring adaptability and innovation to meet new challenges while maintaining core competencies.