City of Yuma Parks & Recreation, Fire, Police Calls for Service & Incidents
Date:
10/23/2009Summary:
Employees of the City of Yuma Police Department, Fire Department and Parks & Recreation Department responded to the following calls for service and reports of vandalism and graffiti this week.Contact:
Corrected Information For This Reporting Period and Year to Date (As of October 22, 2009)
Yuma, Arizona - Employees of the City of Yuma Police Department, Fire Department and Parks & Recreation Department responded to the following calls for service and reports of vandalism and graffiti this week.
Yuma Fire Department
For the week of October 11th through October 17th, Yuma Fire Department responded to 227 Emergency Calls for Service, which included:
- 10 Commercial Assignments including burning food on a stove while the occupant slept in an apartment, an oven fire at an apartment, a trash can on fire on the back porch of a residence, a commercial hood activation and various alarms
- 18 Motor Vehicle Crashes with one involving a pedestrian, one involving a house, two involving a pole, one head-on collision, and one involving three vehicles
- 1 Hazard Materials Response for the smell of gasoline
- 1 Mutual Aid Response for the deployment of a water tender response to assist another agency
- 158 Other Medical Emergencies (serious to minor), five for difficulty breathing, thirteen for chest pain, eighteen fall victims, six unconscious people, five seizure cases, four diabetic emergencies, three possible strokes, one allergic reaction, ten patients with mental problems, four calls for a child locked in a vehicle, and miscellaneous other illnesses and injuries
- 18 Special Duty, Public Assistance, and Residential Assignments that included a fire in a bedroom started by a 5 year old, an explosion at a residence that resulted in a fire, smoking food on the stove that set off an alarm, two vehicle fires, and various alarms
From January 1st to October 17th, the Yuma Fire Department has responded to 8,789 emergency calls for service, which include:
- 294 Commercial Assignments, including -14 fires in businesses, 11 fires in apartments, and various alarms
- 27 Hazardous Material Responses
- 14 Mutual Aid Assignments
- 822 Motor Vehicle Crashes
- 6,709 Medical Emergencies (serious to minor), Including - 840 for difficulty breathing, 584 for chest pain, 847 fall victims, 542 unconscious people, 208 seizure cases, 202 diabetic emergencies, 135 possible stroke cases, 109 poisoning/overdoses, 206 patients with mental problems, 54 allergic reactions, 64 calls for a child locked inside of a vehicle, and miscellaneous other illnesses and injuries
- 923 Special Duty, Public Assistance, and Residential Assignments, including - 48 fires in private residences, 68 dumpster fires, 18 grass or brush fires, 18 fires outside of a structure, 51 vehicle fires, and various alarms
Every year more than 3000 people die in fires in the United States. It is estimated that half of those that died may have lived, if there had been a working smoke alarm in the home. Most homes these days are equipped with smoke alarms, but due to poor maintenance (often batteries are found to be dead or disconnected) many of these alarms fail to work properly when a fire occurs.
Batteries should be replaced at least once a year and alarms should be tested monthly. Combine these tests with doing home fire drills (your kids do them at school and they are just as important at home!) and your children will be more likely to recognize the sound of the alarm and take the proper action in a real emergency.
It is recommended to do your annual battery replacement in connection with some annual event. In many parts of the country that is when they change clocks back to standard time in the fall. There are even long life 10 year lithium batteries now available to install in smoke alarms. It is also recommended to replace smoke alarms every 10 years.
Smoke alarms save lives, and they are some of the cheapest insurance you can buy, but they will do no good if they are not working properly. For more information about fire and injury prevention, contact the Yuma Fire Department Public Information Office at 373-4855.
Yuma Police Department
For the week of October 5th through October 11th, Yuma Police Department responded to an average of 166 calls per day. During this week YPD:
- Responded to 1,166 calls for service
- Documented 245 police reports
- Responded to 37 non-injury accidents
- Responded to 22 injury accidents
Significant events this period included:
- On October 6th an adult male wanted for a felony warrant and other felony offenses had two lengthy standoffs with YPD, but eventually surrendered and was booked for several offenses.
- On October 7th persons unknown burglarized the Yuma County Library in the 2900 block 21st Drive. A TV, laptop and safe was taken.
- On October 10th YPD hosted the Getting Arizonans Involved in Neighborhoods Event in the Target Store's parking lot. Multiple local, state and federal law enforcement and fire agencies had displays with equipment and vehicles. The event had an estimated 3,000 attendees.
The Drive Safe Location was 32nd Street and the targeted intersection was Arizona Avenue and 32nd Street.
From January 1st to October 11th, the Yuma Police Department has:
- Responded to 49,596 calls for service
- Documented 10,645 police reports
- Responded to 1,872 noninjury accidents
- Responded to 724 injury accidents
- Responded to 4,060 alarm calls resulting in 21 police reports
Last Fiscal Year (July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009), the Yuma Police Department:
- Received 27,832 9-1-1 calls
- Received 109,450 incoming calls in the Public Safety Communications office
- Issued 4,010 Traffic Citations
- Made 748 Juvenile Arrests and 2,113 Adult Arrests
Blocking intersections can be a serious problem. It prevents the flow of traffic and can interfere with traffic flow and intersections several blocks away. It backs up traffic and can prevent police and fire vehicles from quickly getting to emergency scenes. If you are at an intersection and are not able to clear it without stopping due to backed up traffic, do not enter the intersection. Even on a green light an intersection should not be blocked. If the light changes to red and you are stuck in the intersection, cross traffic will be blocked. Blocking intersections is a violation of the law and you can be cited. Follow the laws and as always Drive Safe!
Remember to follow all lane, speed and turning restrictions, especially in road construction areas, as they are enforceable traffic violations.
Parks And Recreation Department
For the week of October 14th through October 20th in the City of Yuma Parks and Recreation Department:
- The Graffiti Crew responded to and cleaned up 61 incidents of graffiti
- 180 rounds of 9 hole golf were played at Desert Hills and Arroyo Dunes Golf Courses
- 319 rounds of 18 hole golf were played at Desert Hills and Arroyo Dunes Golf Courses
- The Putter Inn served 297 meals
- 31 events were held at the Yuma Civic Center with an attendance of 3,480 people attending those events
- A total of 252 games were played at City of Yuma athletic facilities
- The Yuma Art Center hosted 1 event with total attendance of 125
- 109 ramadas, parks and fields were rented for special events
- 15 programs were offered through the City's recreation program, with 3,751 members of the Yuma community participating in those programs
Since July 1, 2009:
- 960 incidents of graffiti have been addressed and cleaned up
- 1,151 rounds of 9 hole golf have been played at Desert Hills and Arroyo Dunes Golf Courses
- 6,950 rounds of 18 hole golf have been played at Desert Hills and Arroyo Dunes Golf Courses
- The Putter Inn has served 5,571 meals
- 421 events have been held at the Yuma Civic Center with an attendance of 33,845
- A total of 2,241 games were played at City of Yuma athletic facilities
- The Yuma Art Center hosted 45 events with a total attendance of 6,897
- 1,349 ramadas, parks and fields were rented by Yuma area residents
- 390 programs were offered with 90,648 people attending those programs
There were 61 cases of graffiti abated during the week of October 14 through October 20, 2009.
A hole was burned in the shade cover at the Ocotillo Neighborhood Park. Parks emeployees are trying to repair the damage. It it is able to be repaired, the cost will be approximately $300.00. If City staff is unable to repair it, the cost to Yuma taxpayers will be $1500.00 to replace the shade cover.
Vandalism and graffiti clean-up costs the Yuma taxpayers over $200,000 each year. Please help us reduce vandalism by reporting incidences of crime to 78-Crime and Graffiti to the hot line of 329-2828. If you witness a crime in progress, call 9-1-1.
For More Information
For further information, please contact Greg Hyland, CPM, the City of Yuma's Director of Communications & Public Affairs at (928) 373-5023 or by e-mail or Dave Nash, City of Yuma Public Affairs Coordinator at (928) 373-5015 or by e-mail.
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Media Contacts
Members of the media may contact Director of Communications and Public Affairs Greg Hyland, CPM at (928) 373-5023 or (928) 580-4751, or Public Affairs Coordinator Dave Nash at (928) 373-5015, or (928) 941-0199.
