Tucson Fire Department responding to a call in downtown Tucson.
The Tucson Fire Department ran more than 100-thousand calls last year - nearly 280 a day.
They attribute the rise in calls primarily to the rise in Tucson's population surge. More people - more calls. In addition to responding to fires, TFD says more than 80 percent of their calls also involve EMS.
Also despite efforts to drive non-emergency calls away from 911, it remains a go-to number for the public looking for routine assistance. Last year, Tucson launched 311 to re-route non-emergency calls away from 911.
TFD response times vary depending on volume, traffic, and where units are when the calls come in. But on average current TFD response times are slightly higher than the national benchmark of five to six minutes.
Unlike a year ago, TPD is close to being fully staffed. The department has less than 15 vacancies out of nearly 650 total positions - down from as many as 40 last year. It expects to be fully staffed after the next class graduates from the academy.
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