The 2016 annual report for the Forsyth County Fire Department shows the agency responded to a record number of incidents last year at 13,873. That’s up from 13,283 in 2015.
The report said just over 56 percent of the responses were medical calls. Six-and-a-half percent were fire alarms and 1.25 percent of the responses turned into structure fires, with brush fires accounting for somewhat more than one percent of responses. About 10.5 percent were miscellaneous calls. The remainder comprised such categories as investigating smoke, gas leaks, motor vehicle accidents, motor vehicle fires and carbon monoxide alarms.
The department report showed its average response time for all incidents to be six minutes and 35 seconds, down from six minutes and 42 seconds in 2015. The department said travel distances and a host of other factors can affect those times.
