FY26 Proposed Budget

Emergency Operations

The Fire Emergency Operations is under the direction of the Deputy Fire Chief. The division works a three-shift system. Each duty shift is comprised of 24 hours and consists of one Battalion Chief, one Captain, four Lieutenants, and 14 Firefighters. Minimum daily staffing for the department is 16 emergency response personnel. This division is directly responsible for all emergency incident response. Calls for service are divided into four categories: fire suppression, emergency medical services, technical rescue, and hazardous materials.

Activities:

• Emergency Operations services include fire suppression, emergency medical services, technical rescue, and hazardous materials response. The Fire Department responds to over 9,000 emergency incidents annually.

Recent Accomplishments:

• Operational tempo continues to increase dramatically. Calendar year 2024 will see a 5 percent increase over the previous year, with call volume increasing 40 percent over the previous 5 years. • Obtained new extrication equipment to support technical rescue and automobile extrication operations. • Enhanced instances of lives saved during cardiac arrest events.

Upcoming Challenges:

• Increasing experience with cardiac arrest in our community. • Instances of concurrent emergencies continues to increase – 55% in current calendar year. • ICFD mitigated 9,212 emergencies in 2023, which required 10,943 unit responses. • Projected to mitigate 15,000 emergencies in 2030, requiring 17,815 unit responses. • Emergency activity by hour has slowly normalized in Iowa City, so that tempo is similar 20 hours per day. This impacts operational personnel negatively. • Deployment model for west side of the river should be considered as only one fire engine serves the city west of Riverside Drive. • Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) nearing end of useful life. Replacement likely to cost more than $500,000. • Current SCBA compressor at Station 1 nearing the end of useful life and may require replacement prior to SCBA inventory. • Managing apparatus replacement schedule with several new fire truck replacements in the next few years.

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