Muscatine Fire Department responds to record number of calls in 2021

[courtesy @CityOfMuscatine]

If you thought that the Muscatine Fire Department was busy in 2021, you were right. The Department set a record responding to 5,709 calls for service during the calendar year breaking the previous high of 5,238 calls for service in 2019.

The record call volume continues a steady upward trend in service calls with the number of calls climbing 48 percent over the last decade. The Department has seen the number of service calls top 5,000 annually in each of the last five years including 5,100 in 2017, 5,027 in 2018, 5,238 in 2019, and 5,034 in 2020.

Nearly 91 percent of the service calls in 2021 were for medical calls, down slightly from 2020 when medical calls made up 92 percent of the service calls. The Department responded to 527 fires in 2021, a 29 percent increase over 2020 (409 fire responses).

May, June, and December saw the Department respond to over 500 calls during month with June leading the way with 509 calls followed by December (503) and May (500). July had the highest fire responses at 51 while December was next at 49. July had the highest number of medical calls at 470.

MFD Fast Facts:

  • The 5,709 calls in 2021 was an increase of roughly 13.4 percent from 2020 (5,034)
  • Nearly 5,200 of the calls were EMS related.
  • Fire related incidents accounted for 527 calls.