In 2008, the Anacortes Fire Department responded to nearly 2,700 calls, from false alarms and structural fires to vehicle accidents and cardiac arrests.

The department’s annual report, released earlier this year, shows the majority of calls were for medical assistance. Of the 2,686 calls, 2,253 — about 84 percent — were medical and the remaining 433 — about 16 percent — were fire. That’s an increase from 2,490 calls in 2007 — up about 8 percent.

According to the report, the department responds to a higher than average percentage of emergency medical calls compared to most fire departments.

Factors in that number include the large geographic area (about 85 square miles) that EMS responds to as well as the city’s high percentage of senior citizens.

The greatest concentrations of calls were in the downtown and Skyline areas along with a cluster of emergency calls in the Shelter Bay area. 

Most of the 2008 EMS calls, 69 percent, were medical aid priority, meaning a serious medical call requiring response with lights and siren. About 12 percent of the calls were medical aid non-priority, meaning a medical situation needing attention but not requiring a lights and sirens response.

Other EMS calls include motor vehicle accidents (8 percent), citizens assistance (5 percent), transfers (3 percent), overdose (1 percent), cardiac arrest (1 percent) and suicide (1 percent).

Medical calls between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. account for 67 percent of the total call volume in a 24-hour day. Most calls come in between 10 a.m. and noon.

Most of the fire responses, about 32 percent, were to automatic fire alarms. Most of those were false alarms, including malfunctioning systems, burned food and failure to maintain the system.

Other fire calls include odor or smoke investigation (16 percent), structural fire (11 percent), hazardous materials (8 percent), backup medical (5 percent), illegal burn complaints (5 percent), electrical wires (5 percent), utility problems (5 percent), brush fires (3 percent), CAER (3 percent), vehicle fires (3 percent), boat (2 percent), chimney fires (1 percent) and Dumpster (1 percent).

The department also offers a fire inspection program to help prevent fires. In 2008 there were 312 initial inspections and 170 re-inspections.

In 2006 there were 2,134 EMS calls, in 2005 there were 2,071 and in 2004 there were 1,722. In 2006 there were 469 fire calls, in 2005 there were 504 and in 2004 there were 366 calls.

Visit http://www.cityofanacortes.org and click on the fire option at left.