(Photo provided by the City of Cortland Fire Department).
The number of calls for the City of Cortland Fire Department showed a slight increase between 2022 and 2023.
In 2023, there were 1,640 overall fire calls and 1,618 rescue calls for a total of 3,258. It is almost 100 more calls compared to 2022 (3,168), which breaks down 1,620 overall fire calls and 1,548 rescue calls in that year.
In terms of fire calls, 22 of them were building fires, which is five more than 2022 (17).
For rescue calls in 2023, 1,067 of those calls were to provide medical assistance and/or assistance to the emergency medical services (EMS) crew. In 2022, there were 1,018 EMS-related calls that involved the city fire department.
Calls for hazardous conditions decreased from 153 in 2022 to 135 in 2023. Service calls – which included water problems, lockouts and people in distress – dipped from 570 (2022) to 547 (2023).
False alarms and overall calls – which consists of mischievous false calls, alarm malfunctions and more – jumped from 399 calls (2022) to 511 in 2023.
Totals from previous years are as follows:
2020 – 1,249 fire calls and 1,335 rescue calls for a total of 2,584 calls.
2021 – 1,590 fire calls and 1,686 rescue calls for a total of 3,276 calls.
