The fastest growing city in Baldwin County last year also saw a huge increase in emergency calls for the fire department. That’s according to a recent report from the Foley Fire Chief to the City Council there.
The average annual call increase over the last several years has held at 11 percent. The jump in calls from 2020 to 2021 has Foley Fire Chief, Joey Darby alarmed. He said the jump in call volume doesn’t even count 300 callouts deemed Hurricane Sally-related.
“Now, as I look at the last fiscal year, we see a jump almost to forty-percent, so again, we’re going from steady growth to exponential growth and that’s concerning,” Darby said.
According to Darby, the number one call for assistance the department gets is for motor vehicle collisions, followed by citizen assist calls for falls or medical response. Foley was the fastest growing city in the county last year. Darby believes it’s a combination of the growth in the residential population and a spike in tourism since the 2020 hurricane that has skewed the numbers and spread out his personnel.
“What’s happening with that level of call volume is we’re getting multiple calls at the same time, so our resources get stretched,” explained Darby. “Instead of just that three of four or five calls per day, it’s not uncommon now for us to have ten, twelve, maybe even fifteen calls in a day.” Read more at Fox10tv.com.