Cleveland Heights Fire Department: Record Number Of Calls Pour In

Cleveland Heights firefighters set records for number of calls answered in 2015 at 6,329. It was the first year more than 80 percent of calls received were medical emergencies.

The Fire Department also had 1,289 fire calls, 59 structure fires and 187 motor vehicle accidents with injuries Assistant Fire Chief John Bryan told Patch.

The kicker?

They did it all by spending only 2 percent of a $7 million budget on overtime, saving roughly $140,000.

“It feels good that we had an increase in incidents and yet were able to maintain below budget,” said Assistant Fire Chief John Bryan. “So we must be doing something right.”

The Department handled a variety of incidents last year, including two cases of delivering babies eight days apart from each other. Each required fast reaction from city firefighters.

“We respond to a lot of incidents, and a lot the damage is kept to a minimum,” Bryan said. “Overall our total dollar loss is a lot lower due to having personnel to put out fires quickly and efficiently.”

The Department has a number developments in the works for 2016, such as a planned joint dispatch center among other things.