Toronto Fire Services takes longer to respond to emergency calls in disadvantaged areas of the city compared to other neighbourhoods, according to new data from the department, and councillors warn the pattern could be putting residents in vulnerable communities at risk.
According to the data, on average the department met its target for a key metric called “total response time” in just 70 per cent of incidents in the city’s 33 NIAs and 10 ENs. For neighbourhoods not identified as disadvantaged, the department met its target 80 per cent of the time. The National Fire Protection Association benchmark is 90 per cent.
He said that in general, response times are affected by factors like call volumes, traffic, weather and construction, and noted TFS concentrates equipment and firefighters in high-density parts of town because of “the greater associated life safety risks” of incidents in those areas. Most neighbourhood improvement areas are in the northwest or eastern part of the city, outside the core.
The metric applies to all types of calls, including fires, traffic incidents and medical emergencies. More than half of the calls TFS responds to are medical emergencies, while roughly a quarter are fires. The average percentages at which TFS met the benchmark for that measure were lower in NIAs and ENs, and in 2022 the designated neighbourhoods made up seven of the 10 areas where the department’s scores were the lowest.
In 2021, TFS began implementing recommendations from an operational review that aims to improve response times. They include strategically redistributing trucks and other equipment to react to changing call volumes in different parts of the city.The department also plans to add 52 new front-line staff in each of the next three years, and is exploring building a new fire station in Flemingdon Park.
Maybe if the city stop converting lanes into bike lanes, i am sure the respond times will be higher.
SocialObGyne I made a complaint the following morning. Unacceptable. It happened in a coffee shop. The vulnerable woman had mistakenly left the washroom door open. I didn't know she was inside. I ached for her because she was awake when the fireman made that horrible comment.
SocialObGyne Horrible. I came across a woman who had fainted in a washroom, recently, in a community with a high level of poverty. 911 was called. Fire responded first and I asked if the woman would be taken to the ER. One fireman said, 'No, she's a drug addict. Maybe she has a mental issue.'
TFS dispatches more trucks to an alarm call at TCHC/ low income housing (5 trucks). Only 2 trucks are dispatched to an alarm call at a condo/office tower. 5 trucks take longer to arrive than 2.
Probably because they have to wait for police escort.
Yep. Ontario government does that with public schools, rapid tests, etc. The privileged are his priority. As reports about where the bulk of rapid tests went, etc. Private schools had the windfall. Autistic children are intentionally neglected, Inequality & discrimination thrives
Never forget.
Lemme guess - 'systemic' racism?😜
Perhaps these 'disadvantaged areas' should stop throwing projectiles from their balconies when fire crews arrive. Just sayin.
Wary of flying bullets in these areas, firefighters need more time to don their Kevlar vests.
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