In the 2nd quarter of FY20, there were 26 fire incidents within city limits. 22 of those incidents had response times under 0:08:30. The average response time for the 26 fire calls was 0:06:44; the median was 0:06:02. This quarter, the target of 80% of all fire calls under 0:08:30 was met, with 85% of all fire responses falling under 0:08:30.

9 of the 26 fire incidents included in response time calculations this quarter were structure fires. 100% of the structure fires had response times below 0:08:30 and the average response time was 0:06:05.

Of the calls with response times over 0:08:30, two were passenger vehicle fires, one was a cooking fire, and one was an outside trash fire.

On 2/17/2020, Fire-EMS was dispatched to a cooking fire at a restaurant in the Riverstone area of the ETJ. The response was delayed due to distance; the fire was under control upon arrival.

On 2/27/2020, a vehicle fire was reported on Lakefield Blvd. Engine 3 was disregarded en route, and then re-added to the call by dispatch when requested a second time by police. This created a delay in response for Engine 3.

Another vehicle fire occurred on 3/18/2020 on the southbound side of Highway 59. This call had a slight delay in response due to the freeway location.

On 3/31/2020 Fire-EMS was dispatched to a report of a trash can on fire outside a home on Rocky Ponds Ct., in the Riverstone area of the ETJ. This call experienced a slight delay due to distance. 

FY20Q2 Fire Incidents- Goal Measures
Total Incidents Included: 26 total
Number Over 0:08:30:     4 total
Number under 0:08:30:     22 total
% meeting 0:08:30:     85%

Average Response time 0:06:44
Median Response time 0:06:02
Standard Deviation Response Time 0:02:27

FY20Q2 Fire Incidents- Breakdown by Category
Type,   Number,    % of Total:
Building Fire,   9,   34.6%
Vehicle Fire,   5,   19.2%
Trash Fire,   4,    5.4%
Vegetation/Grass/Brush Fire,   3,   11.5%
Cooking Fire,   3,   11.5%
Incinerator Overload,   1,   3.8%
Fire, other,   1,   3.8%

Time elapsed between receipt of an Emergency Fire Call within corporate city limits by the telecommunications operator to the arrival of the first Sugar Land Fire – EMS (SLF -EMS) unit on scene.

SLF-EMS Unit: A fire apparatus designed to be used under emergency conditions to transport personnel and equipment and support the suppression of fires or mitigation of other hazardous situations.

Emergency Fire Calls: Calls within city limits coded NFIRS Incident Types 100-170, which includes, but is not limited to: structure fire, vehicle fire, natural vegetation fire, and cooking fire. 

Results are reported as the percentage of Emergency Fire Calls responded to within the target time of 08:30 (mm:ss).

80% of all responses to Emergency Fire Calls within 08:30 (mm:ss). This target includes a 01:00 dispatch call processing time and 07:30 response time.

A rapid response to emergency calls helps  save lives, prevent unnecessary property loss, and ensures public safety. 

In October of 2018, City of Sugar Land Fire-EMS, alongside Sugar Land Dispatch, began a new system of call prioritization based upon call acuity. This new call prioritization system was based on a recommendation from the Fire-EMS assessment provided from an independent consulting firm in 2017. This new system means that emergency Fire and EMS units are traveling to low acuity calls without lights and sirens. This system is meant to apply the appropriate level of risk required to respond efficiently and effectively to the incident at hand. Therefore, if a unit is on response to a non-emergency call with lights off, and the call gets upgraded to emergency status, lights will be turned on at that given point in the response. Since more calls are being responded to non-emergency with sirens and lights off, we expect to see a slight increase in response times city-wide. 

The effects of this new call prioritization system will continue to be monitored by the department.