‘We’ve had our busiest year:’ Alabaster Fire Department responds to more calls in 2022

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - The Alabaster Fire Department responded to more calls in 2022 than years prior.

Last year, AFD responded to 4,286 incidents. In 2021, that number was 4,186.

“Of course we do respond to all types of fires,” said Chief Tim Love. “We also respond to all types of medical calls. All of our apparatus are full ALS with paramedics. We do a tremendous amount of things just serving the public, such as helping people that have fallen on the floor.”

Chief Love says as the city grows, so does the call volume.

“We watch those numbers consistently to determine if and when we need to build a new fire station, if and when we need to reposition a fire station, if and when we need to hire more staff,” he explains. “It helps us with decisions we’ll make about what new services we’ll offer in the future.”

The big number Chief Love watches is the overlapping incident or when multiple calls are happening at once.

In 2022, that was 1,432, or 33.41 percent of the calls. In 2021, there were 1,347 overlapping incidents, making up 32.18 percent of the calls.

Chief Love says when they are consistently hitting the 45 percent mark for at least six months at a time, they’ll start moving forward with the possibility of a new fire station.

He adds that’s at least five years away, but they are watching the numbers closely.

“We need the public to be aware that just because you haven’t needed the service, which is a good thing, but those other 4,200 people last year that called, they were having an incident that was probably the worst day of their life when they called,” said Chief Love. “If there wasn’t something here for them, there would have been no one to handle that incident.”

AFD also received the more calls between between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. than during any other time. So, while school is letting out and there are more people on the roads, be careful.

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