NEWS Gallup Fire Department’s call report By Kimberly Gaona Sun Correspondent
T
he Gallup Fire Department responded to 639 calls from July 1 through Aug. 17. The following is a breakdown of what type of calls they responded to. More than 85 percent of their calls are listed as rescue and emergency calls, and that number breaks down to 563 calls that they responded to for emergency medical services. This volume includes motor vehicle accidents, calls for ambulances, and other medical assistance. They responded to two dozen motor vehicle accidents without injury, 17 with injuries and seven involving pedestrians in a motor vehicle accident. GFD responded to nine fire calls, which include one trash or rubbish fire, one mobile property fire, one passenger vehicle fire, one natural vegetation f ire, two outside r ub bish or trash fires, and two other
fires that aren’t specifically broken down. They also respond to hazardous condition calls, of which they reportedly responded to seven. One gas leak,
one extrication, one removal from an elevator, one high angle rescue, three natural gas leaks, two gasoline or flammable liquid spills, four smoke or odor of smoke calls were also all handled in
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Friday August 21, 2015 • Gallup Sun
the course of the month and a half long report. The majority of the rest of their calls breaks down into alarms both intentional and unintentional alarms. False alarms or false calls account for a dozen responses while there were four calls where they were not able to locate anything going on at the dispatched location. These combined with system malfunctions and not finding any smoke or fire account for 30 or over 4 percent of their responses. GFD also responded to one lightning strike, two special incidents, two water problems and one citizen complaint. The report also shows that they responded to 16 service calls and 10 good intent calls. All statistics are from a computer generated breakdown of major incidents, this is a representation of their call volume and may not include every call that GFD responded to.
A blueprint to success: GPD prepares comprehensive fire plans By Kimberly Gaona Sun Correspondent
W
hile firefighters are busy running to save citizens lives, whether it be automobile crashes, fires, exposure to hazardous materials or just a false alarm, the administration is gearing up for anything that could happen. Chief Eric Babcock said that he has to look at what could cause fires. “My job is to assess the risk,” Babcock said. He said that he has to have his firefighters and staff monitor the vegetation that has grown throughout the rain, because that could dry out and become a fire hazard. He also has to have plans in place as Gallup has over 70 trains coming through on a daily basis and a refinery that sits on the outskirts of the town. Jesus Morales said that the firefighters are also busy
preparing fire plans within their districts. “They are going out into the districts in order to identify any hazards – basically putting in a game plan in case of an emergency,” Morales said. He said that the firefighters are going to businesses and schools and mapping the locations of hydrants, deciding where to place the fire trucks, where to place the ladders in order to vent. While the first priority is buildings with over three stories as well as schools and assisted
fire plans | SEE Page 4 NEWS