SALISBURY, Md.- The Salisbury Fire Department received a record number of calls for service during 2023. Salisbury Fire Chief Rob Frampton says this increase is due to the city’s growth in population.
“Each year calls continue to go up for the Salisbury fire department. We are a growing community. Everything‘s being built, the Ross, commercial structures, things like that bring people to the city. So it’s not just our residential population. It’s also the people that are coming here to work, shop, eat those kinds of things,” said Frampton.
Frampton says the increase in respiratory illnesses has also added to their workload.
"Some of the respiratory illness increases that we've seen so we've seen an increase in emergency medical calls," said Frampton.
The department has also changed some of its protocols, which require more personnel to head out on a call.
"We've changed some of our responses for better safety for our providers on potentially violent scenes now, sending two units to those calls,” said Frampton.
The department crossed a total of 16,000 total fire and EMS calls in 2023. Frampton says this has impacted the department in numerous ways.
“Increased calls more so affects our personnel. Now they’re having to work harder. The call volume is up so they’re getting less rest. They’re missing meals. They’re not able to necessarily complete as much training on shift because they’re having to handle the call volume,” said Frampton.
Chief Frampton also said firehouse maintenance may be delayed at the department, as crews are busy responding to calls.
