Thursday, April 18, 2024
Fire Department Operations Annual Report
Public Safety, Finance and Strategic Support Committee
April 18, 2024
Presented by:
Robert Sapien, Jr., Fire Chief
James A. Williams, Assistant Fire Chief
Ryan West, Fire Captain
Mission & Overview
2 Thursday, April 18, 2024
• The San José Fire Department is
committed to serving the
community by protecting life,
property, and the environment
through prevention and
response.
• We’re a full-service, all-hazard
metropolitan fire department that
serves the City of San José and
unincorporated areas of Santa
Clara County.
• We operate in the 12th largest city
in the United States and
serve over 959,000
residents over 200 square miles.
Fire Department Fiscal Year 2022-2023
Annual Call Volume
3 Thursday, April 18, 2024
• The San José Fire Department is one of the
busiest fire departments in the nation.
• Responds to roughly 109,000 service calls.
• The protection area includes residential,
commercial, industrial, wildland-urban interface
areas, and the San Francisco Bayfront.
• Protect higher occupancy area: San José
Mineta International Airport, the SAP Center,
PayPal Park, San José State University, three
super-regional malls, seven major hospitals,
and 108 high-rise structures.
Annual Calls for Service
4 Thursday, April 18, 2024
Call Volume and Population
5 Thursday, April 18, 2024
• Approximately 8%
decrease in San
Jose population
within the last 5
years.
• 18.7% increase in
demand for
emergency response
in the last 5 years
91,900 91,595
94,784
103,145
109,136
-
20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
100,000
120,000
-
200,000
400,000
600,000
800,000
1,000,000
1,200,000
2018 - 2019 2019 - 2020 2020 - 2021 2021 - 2022 2022 - 2023 Population
Call Volume
Fiscal Year
Population Call Volume
Call Volume by Battalion and Fire Station Response Area 6 • Call volume is highest
in the core of the City.
• Highest response
volume is found in
Battalion 1 with
26,735 calls for
service.
26,735
22,100
20,899
19,622
13,159
6,620
-
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000
Battalion 1
(Central)
Battalion 2
(East)
Battalion 10
(West)
Battalion 13
(South)
Battalion 5
(North)
Miscellaneous
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Call Volume by Battalion and Fire Station Response Area 7 • Variability in population
density and service
demands impact
emergency response
coverage.
6,247
5,780
4,087
4,177
3,995
0 1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
1 3 7 8 26 30 33 2 11 16 19 21 24 31 5 20 23 25 29 34 4 6 9 10 14 15 37 12 13 17 18 22 27 28 35 Battalion 1 Battalion 2 Battalion 5 Battalion 10 Battalion 13 Call Volume
Fire Station by Battalion
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Call Volume by Battalion and Fire Station Response Area 8 Thursday, April 18, 2024
Battalion 35 (6th battalion) added in Fiscal Year 2023-2024 9 Thursday, April 18, 2024
Call Volume Heat Map
10 Thursday, April 18, 2024
Call Type Distribution
11 • 109,136 incidents in
FY 22-23
• The Department has
closely monitored
emergency medical
call volume since
December 2020.
• No significant
increases in medical
call volume year-overyear, and no clearly
discernable change in
call type distribution.
68,212 11,519
10,773
6,460
6,318
4,589 1,265
Medical Only (63%)
Other SJFD Unclassified Calls
(11%)
Good Intent Or Service (10%)
No Incident, Wrong Location,
Cancelled En-Route (6%)
Rescue, Haz-Mat, USAR &
Non-Fire Hazards (6%)
Fires (4%)
False Alarm / False Call (1%)
Thursday, April 18, 2024
EMS Call Volume Compared to All Other Call Types
12 • EMS call volume
continues to increase
against all other call
types received by the
Department.
• In FY 2021-2022 and
2022-2023, EMS call
volume increased
disproportionately against
other call types.
• Increase of 6.5% in EMS
calls received compared
to FY 2020-2021.
Thursday, April 18, 2024
57,800 56,454 57,125
63,997
68,212
34,100 35,141
37,659 39,148 40,924
-
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
80,000
2018 - 2019 2019 - 2020 2020 - 2021 2021 - 2022 2022 - 2023 Medical Emergencies All Other Call Types
Fiscal Year 2022-2023 Patient Age Distribution
13 California Department on
Aging:
• 99.3% projected growth in
residents 65 years and
older by 2030.
• 84.6% projected growth in
residents 85 years and
older by 2030.
• The Department’s Medical
Priority Dispatch System
(MPDS) indicated that of
55% patients were 60
years and older and 67%
were 50 years and older
in FY 2022-2023.
348
1,326
2,104
3,959
5,488 5,489
7,528
9,207 9,308 9,168
4,234
3,336
0 2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Fire Department Emergency Response
Times and Metrics
14 Thursday, April 18, 2024
Measuring Response Time (City)
15 Thursday, April 18, 2024
Measuring Response Time (County)
16 Thursday, April 18, 2024
Fiscal Year 2022-2023 Response Time Performance
17 69% 70% 67% 66% 67% 66% 65% 64% 63% 66% 66% 66%
91% 91% 91% 88% 88% 87% 87% 86% 86% 88% 87% 88%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
City Priority 1 Compliance (80% Standard) County EMS Code 3 Compliance (90% Standard) Thursday, April 18, 2024
Late Response Heat Map
Travel Time Performance - Greater than 4 minutes
19 Thursday, April 18, 2024
Business Intelligence
20 Thursday, April 18, 2024
Key Strategies
Projects Segment Status
Resourcing
Deployment Refinements (real-time
move-ups & backfill for training)
Travel Time In Process, Ongoing
Fire Communications Staffing Alarm (Call) Processing Time Ongoing Border Drops Travel Time Following CAD to CAD
Dispatch Links
Technology
CAD to CAD Dispatch Link(s) Alarm (Call) Processing Time, Travel Time Pending agency readiness Closest Unit Dispatch Travel Time In Process, Ongoing
Navigation Technology Travel Time, Resourcing Ongoing
Analytics
Business Intelligence Alarm (Call) Processing Time, Turnout Time, Travel Time
In Process, Ongoing
19 Thursday, April 18, 2024
Questions?
Robert Sapien, Jr., Fire Chief
James A. Williams, Assistant Fire Chief
Ryan West, Fire Captain
Fire Department Operations Annual Report
Public Safety, Finance and Strategic Support Committee
April 18, 2024
22 Thursday, April 18, 2024