Fire House Facts
Date:
09/15/2009Summary:
Sunday September 6, 2009 through Saturday September 12, 2009Contact:
Yuma Fire Department responded to 190 emergency calls for services
- 4 Commercial Assignments
Including: all for false fire pull station alarms - 12 Motor Vehicle Crashes (21 total patients)
Including: 1 rollover, 1 involving a pedestrian, 1 involving a motorcycle, and 1 involving 3 vehicles - 155 Other Medical Emergencies (serious to minor)
Including: 5 for difficulty breathing, 9 for chest pain, 14 fall victims, 3 unconscious people, 4 seizure cases, 4 diabetic emergencies, 10 patients with mental problems, 1 near drowning, 3 calls for a child locked inside of a vehicle, and misc. other illnesses and injuries. - 19 Special Duty, Public Assistance, and Residential Assignments
Including: a cat stuck in a garage door mechanism, a back hoe that ruptured a gas line in the resident’s back yard, a cable wire down in an alley way, a couch on fire in an alley way, a snake removal from a resident’s front yard, a snake removal from a local playground, a vehicle fire, and various alarms
False Alarms
Last week Yuma Fire Department personnel responded to 4 commercial fire alarms that turned out to be false alarms. 3 of these alarms were triggered by someone who set off the alarm knowing there was no fire. Setting off a false alarm is not only against the law; it puts other people's lives in danger. Every time emergency vehicles respond, there is a chance of a crash occurring. People that pull false alarms are legally responsible for any harm that comes from their act.
Every year there are up to a quarter million false alarms reported to U.S. Fire Departments. Every year, some of those responses end in tragedies. Another serious concern is while fire personnel are tied up on false alarms, they are not able to respond (or their response is delayed) to the medical emergencies that make up more than 80% of our calls for service. Last year, 677 of YFD's responses were for false alarms.
Please, have a talk with your children about pulling false alarms. Explain to them the lives they are endangering and the risks they are taking. Pulling a false alarm is playing with fire!
Follow the Yuma Fire Department on Twitter
Follow the Yuma Fire Department on Twitter. The address is www.twitter.com/YumaFireDept. (This link will take you to an external website that is not part of the City of Yuma official website.)
