EMS, Fire and Other incidents are dispatched to an identified address or location. Incident addresses and locations can be geospatially mapped by Engine Company first response areas. Incident addresses and locations can also be mapped using a “grid” system to better determine incident locations. The “grid” system used for mapping is sub-divided into 300 meter by 300 meter “boxes.” Each “box” is approximately the size of a square city block. The system is comprised of 2,084 “grid boxes” completely covering the land and water area surrounding the District of Columbia.           

 

EMS, Fire and Other incidents are not evenly distributed across the District. Some Engine Company first response areas experience very heavy call loads (dispatched incidents) while others do not. Fire stations are geographically positioned in the District to minimize incident travel distance. Some fire stations are located closer to each other where call loads in first response areas are high, while others are not. Incident volume can be mapped by “intensity level” showing the difference in call load. First response areas with high call volume are often associated with larger population density, travel routes or commuter destination locations. The maps below show dispatched incident volume density by Engine Company first response area and grid box, for the type of incidents and date ranges indicated.

 

Fire and EMS Call Volume Map: Dispatched incident volume density by Engine Company first response area (AVERAGE incident count by month, ALL of FY 2022).

 

 

Fire Call Volume Map: Dispatched incident volume density by Engine Company first response area (AVERAGE incident count by month, ALL of FY 2022).