July 29, 2004

PRESS RELEASE

To: Newsroom

For Immediate Release

Contact: Brian A. Crawford, Asst. to the Fire Chief

Phone: 673-6652, cell: 455-2609, page: 675-2137

Shreveport Fire Ranks 68^th Nationally in 2003 Incident Response Survey

According to a 2003 national fire department incident survey by Firehouse Magazine, the Shreveport Fire Department’s 33,459 incident responses last year . . .

ranks them 68^th nationally, placing them ahead of such notable cities as Minneapolis, Minnesota, Buffalo, New York, and Arlington, Texas. In the state, Shreveport ranks only behind New Orleans in run volume. The crescent city came in 50^th with 45,046 incidents. Elsewhere in the state, Baton Rouge was number 95^th with 21,152 responses and Monroe came in at 197^th with 5,547 calls for help.

The department experienced a 3.4 percent increase in total incident response volume over last year’s total of 32,361. Most of the increase is attributed to emergency medical calls, accounting for more than 70 percent of the department’s total calls last year. Other than medical and fire calls, the department also rolls when called for a variety of emergencies and non emergencies, including hazardous material, aircraft rescue, explosive or bomb removal, water rescue, assist police, assist invalid, and yes, they still make the occasional animal rescue. The fire department also answered 1,877 false alarms last year.

The run survey, sponsored by Firehouse Magazine is a comprehensive, national survey of key fire department statistics.