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Wheeling Fire Department sees record amount of calls in 2019

WHEELING, W.Va. — 2019 was a record-breaking year for the Wheeling Fire Department.

The department (WFD) reported on Tuesday that it responded to more calls for service in 2019 than any year its 150-year history, breaking its 2018 record by more than 300 calls. In 2019, a total of 7,204 calls for service were recorded, up by 4.5 percent from 6,885 calls in 2018.

Wheeling Fire Chief Larry Helms told MetroNews that 65 percent of the 2019 calls were medical-related, up 3.5 percent from the previous year. He said those calls were because of the on-going drug addiction epidemic but also an aging population.

Larry Helms

“It seems that more and more folks are using 9-1-1 services versus having someone or themselves drive to the hospital,” Helms said. “That is what we are promoting especially for incidents like potential strokes and cardiac histories.

“We try to promote people to call 9-1-1 that way they don’t end up having a medical emergency attached to a vehicle accident because of the medical emergency.”

Calls are categorized by the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Code Guide. A breakdown of the 2019 calls are as follows per WFD, which Helms said saw increases across the board:

Fire: 127; Overpressure, Explosion or overheat (no fire): 47; Rescue/EMS/Medical: 4,621; Hazardous Condition/No Fire: 201; Service Calls: 776; Good Intent Call: 526; False Alarm/False Call: 816; Severe Weather/Natural Disaster: 7; Special Incident Type: 4.

The total fire calls were up about 22 percent, as were false fire and medical alarm calls by 14 percent, a release said. The WFD does have a plan in place to reduce the amount of false medical calls.

An ordinance was passed by Wheeling City Council in late 2019 that will give WFD permission to bill those who have multiple false medical alarms. This program is still in the developmental stage, per release.

Also of note, Helms said the last quarter of 2019 saw a significant increase in responses to traffic increase. He said it had something to do with the major construction work starting on the city’s interstates with the multi-year Ohio County Bridges Project.

“We did see an increase in what we call rescues and emergencies, which are vehicle accidents,” he said. “That wasn’t a huge amount but there was a noted increase in November when we changed the traffic patterns up here.”

Helms noted in 2019 that the WFD fought two of the worst fires the city has seen in decades.

In January of last year, a third-alarm fire struck the Ziegenfelder Plant in downtown Wheeling in subzero temperatures. On New Year’s Eve, a second-alarm fire ripped through the former West Virginia State Fair Exhibition Hall on Wheeling Island.

The hall was built in 1924. Helms said it was about 110 feet wide and 300 feet long and was the second largest building on Wheeling Island other than Wheeling Island Casino.

Ziegenfelder’s, which is famous for their popsicles among other frozen treats, has their plant take up almost an entire city block in the downtown area.

As for 2020, Helms said his department is focused on increasing manpower and acquiring another full-time ambulance because the paramedics are getting “extremely overwhelmed.”

The department is getting a boost with a federal grant of over $700,000 by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that will go to hiring six additional firefighters.

Helms said the department plans to put two on each of the three shifts. They will go to an engine company and provide EMS services. WFD runs a minimum of 22 firefighters per shift, which are also county EMS workers.





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