- July 26, 2024
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The Palm Coast Fire Department fielded 13,194 calls for service in 2022.
Palm Coast Fire Chief Kyle Berryhill gave the City Council an overview of the department’s operations at an April 25 City Council workshop.
That data included a breakdown of service calls over the city’s five stations. Of the 13,000 calls the department responded to in 2022, Fire Station 25 had the most, at over 4,000.
Future Fire Station 26 will be located in the south part of the city, south of the airport. That area is now served by the county’s Fire Rescue Station 92.
But, Berryhill said, data shows that some areas in that service area are too far away for fast response.
“It’s alarmingly too far to drive in some places,” he said.
The PCFD’s goal is to have a response time of under seven minutes at least 85% of the time, Berryhill said. In 2022, the department responded to calls in under seven minutes 72% of the time.
Part of the problem is traffic, and part is how far people live from a station, the chief said. Regardless, Berryhill said, he and his team are practicing to reduce response times.
Berryhill said the department has concerns about recruitment and equipment acquisition and repair costs. The cost of equipment, Berryhill said, has risen 12-14%, and there are delays in delivery.
“Our fleet does a great job of keeping our trucks in service,” he said, “But the supply chain constraints and the raising cost of parts ... sometimes we just hold our breath when something breaks on a fire truck.”
