The Sykesville-Freedom District Fire Department answered over 4,200 calls for service in 2016, which involved nearly 20,000 volunteer hours from almost 90 members.

Fire Chief Ed Ruch, Jr. released a report on Friday, January 6 that outlined some of the numbers involved in the department’s fire and EMS responses during the year. Among the statistics released:

The SFDFD responded to a total of 4,230 calls in 2016. As usual, EMS responses led the way with 2,761, followed by 1,469 fire responses. While paid crews accounted for many of the personnel responding on both fire and EMS runs, Ruch says there were 87 volunteers who also responded, with an average of 45 members riding calls each month.

The department conducted over 3,000 hours of in-station training, in addition to the state-level fire and EMS certification training. There were 82 in-house fire trainings conducted and attended by SFDFD members, 37 in-house EMS trainings, 21 in-house rescue trainings and two incident command level trainings.

Chief Ruch also released response times for the department. The average responding time for an EMS call in 2016 was 1 minute, 48 seconds, while the average response time for a fire call was 2 minutes, 29 seconds.

The Sykesville-Freedom District Fire Department protects a population of 32,915 in the Sykesville-Eldersburg-South Carroll area. The department is staffed by a core group of volunteers and paid staff members.

The department is always recruiting new volunteers to help provide quality fire and EMS protection to the residents of the area. Administrative volunteers are also encouraged to help with the business, fundraising and community relations aspects of the department.

If you are interested in becoming a member, or learning more about the department, visit our recruitment page below: