Emergency Response

[BoneheadNW]

I was just wondering what type of response time all of you could expect from your police and fire departments in an emergency. Speaking for the fire dept., I know that where I live response times can vary depending on the following factors:

1. Number and types of other calls going on at the same time
2. Time of day (traffic and whether we are sleeping)
3. Area of the island (distance from station)
4. Condition of road and driveway where house is located (many homes are on narrow streets with long, narrow driveways, sometimes multiple driveways
5. How well the address of the house is marked on the street

That being said, the fire department will usually arrive within 5 minutes of being dispatched.
The police department in my area has only 2 cars patrolling for most of the day, so their response times can vary significantly.
What about you guys?
Bonehead

 

[DaveNay]

I was just wondering what type of response time all of you could expect from your police and fire departments in an emergency. Speaking for the fire dept., I know that where I live response times can vary depending on the following factors:

1. Number and types of other calls going on at the same time
2. Time of day (traffic and whether we are sleeping)
3. Area of the island (distance from station)
4. Condition of road and driveway where house is located (many homes are on narrow streets with long, narrow driveways, sometimes multiple driveways
5. How well the address of the house is marked on the street

That being said, the fire department will usually arrive within 5 minutes of being dispatched.
The police department in my area has only 2 cars patrolling for most of the day, so their response times can vary significantly.
What about you guys?
Bonehead

I have great insurance coverage because it would be at least 15 minutes before any first responders showed up at my place. The town I actually live in is about 15 miles south, and is an all volunteer department. Most likely, I would get someone from the Largre town to the north that is only about 9 miles.

 

[Melensdad]

I was just wondering what type of response time all of you could expect from your police and fire departments in an emergency.

My wife and I both decided that we do not expect them to arrive in time to help us.

If the house catches fire, she jokes that we'd need to save the marshmallows so we'd have some warm food after the house went up in a blaze.

As for the sheriff, I have no hope they will arrive. My alarm went off on a bright sunshiny day a few years ago. My neighbors were home and called the sheriff and then called me. I drove home and probably got there about 40 minutes after the phone call. About 10 minutes later a sheriff's helicopter was hovering over the house looking at my car in the driveway. I stepped outside and they flew away (maybe my Hawaiian shirt scared them?).

 

[JimR]

We have an all volunteer FD in my town. It could be 5 minutes to ?? The police would be here quicker. No ambulance in town.

 

[bczoom]

We too have a volunteer FD. I would say they're pretty fast. A structure fire is an automatic 5 alarm call so the first FD gets here within 5 and the other 4 get here within 15 minutes.

Never had to call the police but they can get to my place within 5 minutes as well.

An ambulance.... yea, right. Last time I called I think it took almost an hour.

 

[OkeeDon]

I'm currently living in a suburban county with an enormously competent professional department. They have 387 employees in 15 modern, fully equipped stations. Every fireman hired is state certified, and all are expected to complete paramedic training within two to three years. St. Lucie County was one of the first in the nation with 9-1-1 service in the very early 70's, and one of the first with enhanced 9-1-1 service that displayed addresses of the caller. There is one unified department for the entire county and all cities in it. The training and maintenance is outstanding. The local community college has a widely-repected fire school. It doesn't get much better. Response time is as fast as it can be except in the most rural areas of the county, and even there, they have several rural fire stations that are positioned as close as they can be. It's just difficult to reach someone in the back of a cattle ranch very quickly.

I'm moving to a rural county with a weird mix. The City of Okeechobee has a small department with one station and a mix of professionals and volunteers. Okeechobee County has two stations with professional staff supplemented by volunteers, and one volunteer station in the boondocks, which is not much more than a metal shed with one engine. Response time can easily be more than 20 minutes just because of the distance they have to cover. I'm 4 miles west of town and about 5 miles from Station 1; I can expect response in about 8 minutes. My s-i-l and I both have ponds that can feed a pumper, but we are far from central hydrants and such that would reduce insurance rates.

However, their training and equipment is also first rate. Every 2-man team has at least 1 paramedic and 1 EMT, and everyone, including all volunteers, have been through fire school and are state-cretified fire fighters. Volunteers are expected to play a serious role, and most salaried firemen are hired from the ranks of volunteers. Doug volunteered for two years before being hired. He had completed fire school and EMT school as a volunteer; he has since completed all the requirements for paramedic and is awaiting his state exam.

In both counties, more than 80% of the calls are medical, from auto accidents to home medical emergencies to someone who has to be lifted back into bed.

 

[Mith]

I think we had an ambulance here in about 5-10mins tops, the hospital is about 20mins+ away but they usually have a unit in town waiting. Fire and police would be pretty fast, both are in town about 2 miles away.
I think if I really beat myself up that bad where it would matter 10 mins either way I doubt I would be able to call them out in the first place

 

[Snowcat Operations]

We have a volunteer fire dept and paramedics. I am on the fire dept and will soon join the paramedics. As far as response time it varies depending on who is in town. If no one is around then the Ely fire dept will respond.

 

[rico304]

The town I live in has County patrols. It varies on response time. I've called before and it has taken them about 15-20 minutes to get there. Another call took only about 3 minutes. It just depends where their patrol units are, not so much where the PD is located. The neighboring town will send a cruiser if County is too far out.
Ambulance is also shared between volunteer departments from my town and the neighboring town. I would guess their time is about 10-15 minutes for the ambulance, but some go directly to scene in their own car. That is fairly fast I would imagine. Fire is same as Ambulance.
The City I work in has a larger full time Fire/Police. I would guess there must be 3-4 Ambulances with 2 paramedics on each. We have one set up just for non priority transports to free up the others. They stay VERY busy. Their response is within 3-4 minutes. About the same with Fire.
I would guess the average response for Police would be 2-4 minutes. Generally at night (after 6pm) we have anywhere from 10-20+ Officers. (we're down several Officers right now, and the number changes due to time off and how much the City wants to spend to replace them. (That number doesn't count Jetport, plain clothes, detectives or Island Officers.) All in all, pretty good response times. Average amount of calls (for Police) range from 5-25 calls a night. (that is all types of calls. Dog barking to domestic dispute..etc)

 

[OhioTC18]

I live in a semi-rural area. The local fire station is 1.2 miles away. They have always been here in what seemed like an hour. But I have only called them twice while having a heart attack AND while they were asleep, so I have no idea how soon they really got here .
We only have the county Sheriff for law enforcement. I have called them once in 6 years on a non emergency run, so there again, I have no idea how long it would be for them to arrive. The good part is, my neighbor two house down is a Deputy Sheriff and if I'm gone he'll watch the house if I ask

 

[Junkman]

I live on the MA/CT border....... about 1/4 mile to be exact. We don't have a local police department and all law enforcement is done by the State Police. If you call the State Police for an emergency, the response time is usually between 20 minutes and an hour, depending on time of day and how busy they are. If you are real lucky, they might have a car in the vicinity, but it is rare. Once they do get the call, they do deploy the resources necessary and they don't ever hold back on sending back up. It is just a logistical nightmare for them to cover all the rural areas on Northwestern CT. If it is an extreme emergency, they have also been known to call the MA local or State Police and ask for assistance until they can arrive. This response would take less than 10 minutes.
Fire protection is by the local volunteer fire department. Each section of town has their own Department, but they all work together to handle the fires. If they need, they also have Mutual Aid network where they can call up all the surrounding towns Departments. The biggest problem that we have is the fact that there is no hydrants in town. All water has to be drafted from local ponds. I have 3 good water supplies in the form of streams or ponds near by, so that isn't a problem, but the uphill drive from the station will take at least 15 - 20 minutes and that is only after they assemble a response team. I have more than 20 fire extinguishers spread out in the house and the cellar has sprinklers installed in the cold water pipes. Not exactly "legal" as a sprinkler system, but it is better than nothing.
Ambulance Service is also by the volunteer fire department and they are experiencing the same problem of staffing as all the other departments around the country. Since I have my own ambulance, I can handle any family emergency that might arise, except for my own. I am a retired EMT, so I know what to do, but prefer not to have to. Because of legal reasons, I wouldn't transport anyone other than a very close relative..... i.e. Wife.
I do have a friend that did transport his mother from the nursing home to the hospital when she fell, because mom insisted that her son be called instead of a public ambulance. Since he is also the local police chief, I guess that he was able to get away with it. He did say that the staff at the hospital emergency room were quite surprised when a 35 year old ambulance pulled in with lights and siren. Wonder what they would have thought if he had used one of his combination vehicles..... those were hearses that converted to ambulance duty that were common when funeral directors were also the ambulance providers.....