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Springfield Fire Department releases Annual Report for 2023

Mayor McClure cuts the ribbon on Fire Station 13
Chris Drew
/
Ozarks Public Broadcasting
Springfield Mayor Ken McClure cuts the ribbon on Fire Station 13 in August 2023.

The department highlighted the opening of Fire Station 13, the city’s first new fire station in 15 years. They also praised the reconstruction and modernization of Fire Station 7.

In 2023 SFD said it replaced or installed 1,077 household smoke alarms. Its Bureau of Fire Prevention performed 1,830 inspections and 188 fire and hazardous device investigations. The department’s Developer Services team reviewed over 1,570 building plans and conducted 890 site inspections.

The Fire Operations Division responded to 12,613 calls for service, the lowest in five years, with a recent peak of 18,566 calls in 2019. The department said Emergency Medical Services continue to be their most in demand service. Representing just about a quarter of all calls they received. In 2023 that included calls for response to 282 opioid incidents, down from 407 in 2022.

The department reported its first unit response time for structure fires this past year was six minutes, 24 second. Its emergency medical response time was eight minutes, six seconds. Each about 30 seconds faster than what was reported in 2022.

The highest concentration of structure and vacant structure fires was in northwest Springfield.

Read the full report at this link.