Emergency responses have been the main task of the Park Forest Fire Department since our establishment over 50 years ago. In the early
years of the department our responses were more geared towards fire suppression rather than medical. Today it is just the opposite with the majority of our calls being medical in nature rather than fire related. No matter what the request, our members stand ready to serve on a moments notice 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Response Times:
Response times have remained relatively constant over the years with an average response time of 3 minutes. This average takes into account a number of factors including time of day, incident location, weather conditions, multiple calls and mutual aid responses. This average also demonstrates the efficient service our community has come to expect.
Staffing:
The sheer quantity of emergency service requests can put a severe strain on our Department as we strive to deal with the wide variety of potential emergencies. It is not uncommon for our small fire department to be dealing with two, three, four or more emergencies at one time, necessitating the use of mutual aid companies in conjunction with our own limited resources.
Looking back to 1972, there was a career staff of 23 and a paid on call division numbering 50 available to deal with the 957 total emergency requests. Over thirty years later, our Department still has a career staff of 23 (21 shift and 2 administrative) and a paid on call division of only 17 responding to 2,748 incidents. As calls continue to increase, the Department will need to seriously consider staffing increases to continue providing the same quality and timely services our residents deserve and have come to expect.
Responses:
A fire department responds to a fire every 16 seconds somewhere in the United States. A structure fire occurs every 55 seconds and a residential fire every 78 seconds. Thankfully, the Park Forest Fire Department is fortunate in that we do not see the fire activity indicated by the national statistics. However, our call responses continue to rise with 2003 being our busiest year on record.
