Dauphin Fire Department Year In Review

The Dauphin Fire Department (DFD) is providing a yearly review of their responses in 2020.

The fire department responded to a total of 168 incidents in 2020 — a 22% decrease in calls compared to the year prior and the lowest amount of calls for service since 2006.

The greatest number of calls to the DFD were for motor vehicle collisions, with 51 incidents — up from 39 in 2019.

2020 Incident Summary
Breakdown of calls received by the Dauphin Fire Department in 2020 | Graphic courtesy of the Dauphin Fire Department

The second most common call to the DFD was for false alarms, with a total of 50 — down from 67 in 2019.

The department says it’s difficult to say whether COVID-19 restrictions had anything to do with the decrease in overall calls.

Surprisingly, despite residents spending more time at home during the pandemic, there was a very significant 88% decrease in the number of kitchen fires.

DFD Responds To First Calls Of 2021

It took 3 days into the New Year before the Dauphin Fire Department (DFD) was called for service.

Shortly after 7 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 3, the DFD got a call about a residential smoke alarm sounding on Bossons Avenue, which ended up being a minor cooking incident that activated the monitored home alarm.

Later that night, another monitored home alarm was sounded on 6th Avenue SE due to a cooking incident.

While neither incident was serious, the Fire Department is reminding households with monitored alarm systems to keep the phone number of the service provider close in order to report situations when the Fire Department is not needed.

10 Year Analysis
10-year analysis of call volume to the Dauphin Fire Department | Graphic courtesy of the Dauphin Fire Department