The Southlake Fire Department has presented its 2022 Fire Annual Report, which provides an overview of the hard work and dedication of Southlake Fire staff during the calendar year of 2022.
The Fire Annual Report highlights services provided to Southlake’s citizens through emergency response, emergency management, and community risk reduction through fire inspections and fire public education and prevention.
Fire Chief Michael Starr spoke about the amount of experience lost through retirements and the inspiring new leaders that have been promoted. “Although we lost quite a bit of experience to retirement, we continued to enhance our advanced cardiac arrest initiative. “It now shows a 33% cardiac survival rate compared to a 12% national average. This really brings home the “why” of what we do here. To be able to save someone’s life, someone’s family member, or someone’s friend,” Starr added.
In the notable achievements, the Department recognized the public education event “It Takes a Village,” where Fire Prevention, Emergency Management, and White Chapel Church partnered to create a fun, resourceful, and educational event that catered to the special needs community.
Another pinnacle is the Department’s stance on mental resiliency by entering into a partnership with F1rst to provide training for fire first responders to cope with the mental health and resiliency challenges of a high-stress environment. Lastly, the Office of Emergency Management worked with internal and external stakeholders to update the City’s “All Hazards” Emergency Operation Plan. The “all hazards” approach allows the ability to respond to various emergencies varying in scale, duration, and cause.
“As an accredited organization, measures and numbers matter,” says Chief Starr in reference to the 4,071 calls for service in 2022. “We assess how long it takes us to get out of the station, the travel time to a call, and how quickly it was dispatched. These numbers allow us to be successful and show that we are giving the best possible service to our citizens.” The report shows that the Department responds to fires within 7.14 minutes and medical calls within 6.23 minutes, 90% of the time. The City of Keller dispatches calls for service within 46 seconds 90% of the time.
The full report can be found online. For more information about Southlake’s Fire Department, please visit www.CityofSouthake.com/Fire.
