Response Logs Have a Fatal Flaw

Response time logs from the Toronto (Ont.) Fire Services communications center show that fire units are arriving an average of one minute longer than than the six-minute standard set by a national fire association, and that the statistics are skewed because they don’t include the time between when the 911 call is first answered and when the incident is first logged into CAD. According to a story in the The Star newspaper, the pre-CAD entry call handling time may be up to two minutes, adding considerably to the overall response time. The additional time–if accounted for in the logs–would also decrease the percentage of times that the Toronto fire service meets the six-minute response time standard. Read more about the comm center and the analysis of response times here.