DETROIT (WXYZ) — Detroit fire officials say the average response time used to be 7 minutes and 57 seconds. Now that time is 7 minutes and 30 seconds.
“I think it’s overall fantastic to have more resources allocated towards keeping us safe,” says Nicole Ponton, a Detroit resident.
Ponton says when she moved to the city seven years ago, one of her biggest concerns was the fire department’s response times.
“It’s nice to have a faster response time, it’s nice to know that that’s available especially when we’re considering our entire family’s safety,” said Ponton.
Fire commissioner Chuck Simms says one of the reasons DFD’s response times have improved is because city firefighters are trained to also be paramedics.
Now if firefighters are the first to show up on a scene, they can begin life-saving measures right away.
“Since 2016, fires have decreased 40%. However. medical response runs have increased 70%, so we understand now where we have to shift as a department,” said Commissioner Simms.
On Friday, DFD put six new EMS vehicles into service.
Now on any given day between 42-44 EMS rigs will be out on the street.
“Just having the extra ambulances out here on the street just to ensure that we provide the optimal services to the citizens of Detroit,” said Commissioner Simms.
Joseph Stevens, a new paramedic with DFD, says he is proud response times are down and there will be more ambulances out on the street.
“People are going to be trusting us more and calling 911 instead of trying to drive their loved ones to the hospital themselves, which is an unsafe thing to do, versus us taking them,” said Stevens.
Overall DFD’s response times are at the best they have been in years and they are also better than the national average for departments of similar size.
