42 / 260
28
Recommendation: CAL FIRE should build its training regimens and tactical strategies
around the exterior or transitional attack when the fire scenario and the number of
responding personnel warrant this approach.
Table 4-1 aggregates the calls for the twelve-month period evaluated. EMS calls represent the
largest percentage of calls for service at almost 60 percent; this predominance of EMS calls is
not unusual and is quite similar to many communities CPSM has observed. While fire call types
represent nearly 21.4 percent of the calls for service, actual fire calls (structural and outside)
represent only 3.5 percent of the overall calls, with the majority of these being outside or
wildland fires. Hazard, false alarms, good intent, and public service calls represent the largest
percentage of the fire calls (83.6 percent), which is also typical in CPSM data and workload
analyses of other fire departments. One interesting observation in this data set was the higher
occurrence of actual fires in the District when compared to the City. Overall, two out of every
three actual fires occurred in the District. In terms of structure fires, only five occurred in the City
(18 percent), while 23 occurred in the District (82 percent). Though this comparison was limited,
in that it only looked at the most recent yearly figures, it does indicate a higher fire incidence in
the District than in the City. However, when comparing the total response activities, the City
responses accounted for 65 percent of the call activity while the District responses accounted
for only 35 percent of the overall activity.
TABLE 4-1: Call Types During Twelve-month Study Period
Call Type
Number of Calls by
Location
Total Calls
Calls
per Day
Call
Percentage
MHFD
SSCCFD
EMS
2,037
824
2,861
7.8
52.0
MVA
166
299
465
1.3
8.4
EMS Total
2,203
1,123
3,326
9.1
60.4
False alarm
223
115
338
0.9
6.1
Good intent
38
69
107
0.3
2.0
Hazard
82
51
133
0.4
2.4
Outside fire
57
107
164
0.4
3.0
Public service
311
96
407
1.1
7.4
Structure fire
5
23
28
0.1
0.5
Fire Total
716
461
1,177
3.2
21.4
Automatic aid
9
249
258
0.7
4.7
Cancelled
138
96
304
0.8
5.5
Mutual aid
NA
NA
443
1.2
8.0
Total
3,066
1,929
5,508
15.1
100.0
Note:
All mutual aid calls and 70 cancelled calls occurred outside of both MHFD’s and SSCCFD’s areas.
Observations:
Overall
■
The departments received an average of 15.1 calls per day, which includes 0.8 cancelled and
1.2 mutual aid calls.
■
On average, there were 0.7 automatic aid calls per day to which other agencies responded.