By Jack Chavez, Staff Writer

(Feb. 2, 2023) The Berlin Fire Company gave its final 2022 quarterly report — Oct. 1 to Dec. 31 — to the Mayor and Town Council during its meeting on Jan. 23.

There were 39 in-town fire and rescue calls, accounting for 43 percent of all calls. There were 51 out-of-town calls or roughly 57 percent of the calls. The total of 90 calls is down nine from the previous year’s quarter.

The busiest days in order were Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The busiest time of day in order were the hours of 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.

There were eight instances of simultaneous calls or calls that came in while the fire company was still working on a previous call.

The response time averages 4.05 minutes, well below the average county time of six minutes.

The fire company logged 688.79 emergency response hours and 1,059.25 hours for training, meetings, fundraisers, collateral duties, et cetera.

Annual donations during the quarter were $30,710, which is about $1,100 less than the prior year. The fire company raised $1,000 from Friday night dinners but suspended the weekly event because of product costs, availability and volunteer staffing.

Utility costs and building expense were slightly over budget. Vehicle fuel and maintenance expense came in on budget.

Capital items purchased included $2 million to replace fire engines that were 15, 23 and 33 years old and a rescue vehicle that was 22 years old.

Ropes and hydraulic equipment were also purchased.

On the emergency medical services side, there were 313 in-town EMS call responses or about 63 percent of all calls. There were 182 out-of-town calls. Total calls for the quarter were up by eight calls over the last year’s quarter.

There were 245 in-town transports and 68 non-transports. Out-of-town transports tallied 97 and 87 for non-transports.

The busiest days, in order, were Friday, Thursday and Saturday.

The busiest times of day were the hours of 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. followed by 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.

The response time showed a marked improvement over last year, reducing from 1.18 minutes to 1.07 minutes. The number includes second-run, night time and third-run calls “that may be full volunteer response from home,” according to the report.

The annual drive saw a $4,000 revenue increase, capital funds came in at $300 and invoices saw a $3,000 increase due to call volume and a new billing company.