Item 5.3 Elk River Year End Report 2020
City of Elk River
Fire Department
2020
Year-end Report
For the City of Otsego
From the Chief’s Desk
Greetings,
This 2020 year-end report is a breakdown of Elk River Fire Department emergency responses and
hopefully provides a better understanding of the services provided to the City of Otsego. The year
2020 brought many challenges for the fire service, which started off with a fire that raged for days in
February at the Northern Metal Recycling yard in Becker. Multiple agencies responded to the event
from across the State of Minnesota. Elk River Fire assisted in fire control, rehabilitation, and
emergency management.
Unfortunately, this event was just a glimpse of what the rest of 2020 would look like. A little over a
month later, we all were hit with a global pandemic, which made the fire service look at how we
would be able to continue to safely respond, train, and provide community outreach to the
communities we serve. We continue to plan and prepare for what we will need now and, in the
future, so that critical services will be sustained.
The Elk River Fire Department continues to be one of the busiest in the Northwest suburbs and the
busiest in Sherburne County. We provide an all-hazard response with emergency response increasing
steadily over the last 10 years. In 2020, we had a total of 508 emergency responses with 92 of them
to the City of Otsego and provided additional services through our fire prevention bureau with
safety inspections and community outreach.
In conclusion, as we recover from the challenges faced in 2020, we will continue to evaluate,
prepare, and plan so that we are able to provide the best possible services. The year 2021 is already
proving to be more positive (even though signs of 2020 are still hanging around) the resilient and
valiant spirit of our community will remain steadfast as we ride out the remnants of the storm, we
call 2020.
We are thankful for the support we have received from our neighboring community, the Otsego
City Council and City Administrator.
On behalf of the Elk River Fire Department, I would like to personally thank you.
Very respectfully,
Mark Dickinson
The Elk River Fire Department received a total of 508 calls for service in 2020. The pie chart above
breaks down the 508 incidents into categories based on the National Fire Incident Reporting
Systems (NFIRS). (All categories are broken down further on the following pages.)
Category #1 (Fires) are generally what most people think of when they picture a fire department
response. This includes all structural, vehicle, wild land, cooking, rubbish, and mutual aid.
Category #2 (Alarms) includes all carbon monoxide, sprinkler, and fire alarms responded to where
no fire was found upon arrival.
Category #3 (Hazardous Materials) pertains to incidents involving a hazardous materials leak, spill,
or release (i.e., natural gas, fuel, carbon dioxide, etc.).
Category #4 (Vehicle Accidents) involves a response to motorized vehicle accidents that include
both injured and non-injured patients. Extrication of patients from vehicles is an advanced skill that
is often needed.
Category 5 (False alarms) includes all 911 activations where we responded but no problem was
found upon arrival, or we were cancelled by dispatch en-route.
Category 6 (Agency assists) refers to responding to an incident to assist another agency (i.e., law
enforcement or utilities for downed power lines).
Category 7 (medical) includes all medical responses requested by ambulance.
0%
27%
28%10%
14%
15%
1%
5%
2020 Total Incidents - 508
Fires (139)
Alarms (144)
Hazardous Materials (49)
Vehicle Accidents (71)
False Alarms (74)
Agency Assists (4)
Medical (27)
All categories are divided further for more detail on the following pages .
CITY OF OTSEGO RESPONSE
BREAKDOWN OF THE 92 EMERGENCY RESPONSES TO OTSEGO
25%
21%
13%
12%
16%
13%
2020 Otsego Total Incidents - 92
Fires (23)
Alarms (19)
Hazardous Materials (12)
Vehicle Accidents (11)
False Alarms (15)
Medical (12)
BREAKDOWN BY MONTH/DAY VS NIGHT
Emergency Responses
3352786234554311362132441000200100000000010000000
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
0600-1800
1800-0600
DO 0600-1800
DO 1800-0600
5 5
3
1
0
9
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
FIRES
9
2
8
Fire Alarm Smoke
Detector
Activation
Carbon
Monoxide
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Alarms
10
2
Natural Gas Fuel Spill
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Hazardous Materials
10
1
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Injuries No Injuries
Motor Vehicle Accidents
15
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
No assistance needed
False Alarms
10
2
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Assist EMS (Cardiac
Arrest, etc.)
Lift Assist
Medical