The Ridgefield Fire Department responded to more than a third more residential fires in 2015 than it did in 2014, although the total number of responses for all types of incidents was down from the previous year.
The department responded to a total of 34 residential fires in 2015, according to the latest edition of the National Fire Protection Association Fire Experience Survey. That was up from 20 in 2014.
However, the total number of incidents responded to in 2014, including emergency aid, was 3,307, somewhat more than 3,204 in 2015.
Fires in highway vehicles were up, at five in 2015, down from two the year before.
There were three fires in buildings other than homes, down from eight the previous year.
Brush fires stood at six in 2015, up from four the year before. Dumpster fires stood at five, up from three the previous year.
Rescue and emergency medical responses stood at 2,069, the largest single category of fire department responses. That compared to 2,217 the previous year.
Chief Kevin Tappe said the information from one year of data says little. What says more is a 10-year review, which shows fires are stable but emergency calls are increasing.
“You can’t base it on one year’s experience. If you look at it over 10 years, the number of fires is stable,” Tappe said.
From 2004 to 2013, the number of fires stayed between 40 and 80, Tappe said. That is because the number of buildings did not increase.
However, the population aged during that time and there are more people over the age of 65, so ambulance calls are up. “We did 905 EMS calls in 2004, and we did 2,217 of them in 2014, so it was more than double,” Tappe said.
The firefighters are trained in emergency medical work and double as EMTs.
The fire department’s main challenge is the rising number of medical calls, Tappe said.
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