WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah — This summer is proving to be among the busiest ever for the West Valley City Fire Department, as the month of June has brought in a record-high number of medical and fire related calls for the area.
Fire Chief John Evans said crews in West Valley City responded to 1,023 such calls in June of 2015, which is about 400 more than over the same time period last year and amounts to the busiest month in the department’s history.
About 80 percent of them were medical calls, which is comparable with the national average. While Evans said there isn’t a specific reason for the spike in calls, he said it’s a natural consequence of growth. He said they are confident they can handle the growth in the area.
“I want to assure the citizens when they call 911, somebody will be there,” Evans said.
He added: “But, of course, if things keep going up, yeah, we have to look at: What do we have to do to make sure that we provide the best services to the citizens of West Valley?”
Evans said the department always looks at call volumes and moves units around to areas with higher need.
He also said they are staffed to handle several calls at the same time, and notes they have a good history of working with other fire departments in Salt Lake County.
