Emergency calls to Colorado Springs Fire Dept. back to pre-pandemic levels

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — The Colorado Springs Fire Department says emergency call volumes are back up to normal following a historic drop in April and May.

“We saw call volume drop for about an eight-week period,” said Capt. Mike Smaldino, a spokesperson for the fire department. “So from about the middle of March to around the beginning of June, our call volumes every day were about 25% down.”

Smaldino says in the two decades he’s worked for the department, he’d never seen a drop so dramatic. The down time in April and May gave the department time to deep clean and go through COVID-19 training.

“As we got going into summer, as people start getting back on the streets, our call volume has gone right back up to what we would consider is our average call volume,” he said.

In the same two-month period, slightly more fires were called into CSFD. The fire department says it's not surprising when you consider how many people were at home during the pandemic.