Image by Keith McCoy.
Cahaba Valley Fire Department
In an average month, the Cahaba Valley Fire and Rescue responds to about 255* calls.
From car accidents to medical needs to wild fires, the fire department is there, responding to about 2,500 calls in a full calendar year.
Despite its name, only about 2.5 percent of Cahaba Valley Fire’s calls are structure, vehicle, wild land and other fires. Instead, most of the fire department’s resources are spent on emergency medical services and other services. These two combined make up about 83 percent of the calls. This year, the department responded to 1,051 EMS and 1,064 other service calls alone.
Calls involving vehicle accidents make up 8.5 percent of the fire department’s responses. In 2014 they responded to 114 accidents involving injuries and an additional 103 where no injuries were involved. The department also responded to about 121 false alarms and 34 fire alarms in 2014.
Cahaba Valley’s peak month for calls was January, when they responded to 436 calls. By comparison, they answered 160 calls in February and 199 in March. February had the lowest amount of calls in 2014, and October was the second highest after January with 284 calls.
After what Cahaba Valley Fire called a very productive year, the department released a State of the District report to address improvements in the department looking forward to 2015.
During the snowstorms earlier this year, the district used two recently-purchased refurbished Chevrolet vehicles to transport children home from Mt Laurel Elementary, and they converted the fire stations into emergency shelters for people stranded on U.S. 280.
The District obtained a new Dodge Transport Unit ambulance as well as a used one, increasing their total to four front line transport units and one reserve transport unit. A local business also donated a Kubota ATV, giving Cahaba Valley the capabilities to provide EMS in off road circumstances and in congested areas.
A Safety Officer Program was also implemented. It ensures a trained safety officer will respond to structure fires, motor vehicle accidents and other call types. The safety officer’s role is to keep the firefighters safe while performing emergency duties.
*Numbers are based on data collected from the Cahaba Valley Fire Department from January to October 2014.
