Fire Department's Busy Year: Runs in 2010 Set Record

Calls for service from the Strongsville Fire Department reached a whopping 4,397 last year, up 375 from 2009, according to the annual report.

While calls for fires stayed about the same, rescue runs hit record levels in 2010.

Fire Chief Bob Moody attributes part of the increase on the city's growing elderly population, who live on their own or in assisted living facilities.

"We seemed to have a lot of calls for severe flu last year," Moody said. "Also, a lot of our calls have to do with people tripping and falling at home."

While a large number of the calls for emergency medical service are related to cardiac problems (354 calls last year) or respiratory distress (371), the department also responded to 387 falls last year, 234 personal injuries, seven burns, two gunshot wounds, two stabbings, 26 cardiac arrests, 61 strokes, 25 assaults, 61 mental disorders, 25 DOAs, 64 diabetes-related problems, 51 drug/alcohol intoxication cases, 11 obstetrics/gynecology calls, 158 motor vehicle crashes, 93 seizures, 140 incidents of altered mental status, 68 back pain complaints, 134 abdominal pain, and 724 medical illnesses.

Moody said the number of medical facilities in Strongsville -- the medical building and , for example -- also contribute to rescue calls.

"People walk into these facilities with chest pains or shortness of breath," he said. "They see the signs and think people are going to take care of them. Their first call is to us."

Emergency medical calls made up 78 percent of the department's activity last year, with the rest for fires, hazardous materials and other emergencies.

Fire calls are typically between 90 and 120, which puts last year's 92 in the low average range. 

Of those, 31 were for buildings, eight were for cooking or chimney fires, 21 involving vehicles, 12 for grass fires and 12 for rubbish or outside fires.

The department investigated 12 fires, the loss from which totaled $767,500. Some causes: An unattended candle caused $40,000 worth of damage to an apartment; three arson fires caused $7,500 in damages; 

Bigger losses ($350,000) resulted from two fires caused by failure of a wood-burning fireplace and a case where ashes were improperly disposed of.

A lightbulb place too close to combustibles sparked a fire in a condo; smoking or improperly disposing of smoking materials caused another. Two electrical fires caused $300,000 worth of damage in two homes -- one caused by problems in a bathroom and and another in an air hockey table.

"We have a real effective fire prevention program here," Moody said. "We're proud of the fact we only have that many fires a year."