By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
The Great Bend Fire Department ran a report of the calls they responded to last year. Whether it was for the fire side or EMS, the department responded to 2,583 last year. The data was collected from Jan. 1, 2023 to Dec. 18, 2023.
Of all those calls, less than four percent were related to fires. Great Bend Fire Chief Brent Smith said the numbers were as expected.
"We had a down year when COVID hit, but since then we've had about a 10-percent increase in calls annually," said Smith. "We run approximately seven calls a day. When I first arrived in July 2019, we were averaging six calls a day."
Nearly 86 percent of the incidents the GBFD responded to dealt with rescue and emergency medical service. There were 75 false alarms or false calls in 2023. Smith said the fire department also responded to 75 good intent calls.
"A good intent call is when we get a call saying their neighbor has a fire in their backyard," said Smith. "When we get there, it ends up being a barbecue grill or someone cooking. When they called 9-1-1, they thought it was actually something and when we get there it's nothing."
After receiving a call from dispatch, fire department personnel has a goal of being out the door in 40 seconds. Smith said the Great Bend Fire Department had the fastest response time out of any EMS agency in Kansas in 2023.
