Citation

Solis AO, Wimaladasa J, Asgary A, Sabet MS, Ing M. Int. J. Emerg. Serv. 2021; 11(1): 1-37.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Emerald Group Publishing)

DOI

10.1108/IJES-05-2021-0024

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

PURPOSE The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many facets of urban life and operations, including emergency incidents. This study examines how COVID-19 has brought about changes in, and shifting patterns of, emergency incidents in the City of Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. This study aims to derive insights that could potentially inform planning and decision-making of fire and rescue service operations as further stages of the pandemic unfold.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH Standard temporal analysis methods are applied to investigate the changes in the number and nature of emergency incidents, as recorded sequentially in the city's fire and rescue service incident report database, through various phases or waves of the pandemic and the associated public health measures that have been introduced.

FINDINGS The study analyses show a decrease in the number of emergency calls compared to previous reference years. Vehicle-related incidents show the highest decline, and changes in daily and hourly pattens are consistent with public health measures in place during each stage of the pandemic. The study concludes that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on demand for emergency services provided by the fire department.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE The authors believe this is the first study applying temporal analysis on a city's emergency incident response data spanning various phases/waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis may be replicated for other municipal fire services, which can generate further insights that may apply to specific local conditions and states of the pandemic.

Keywords: CoViD-19-Road-Traffic

Language: en

Keywords

City of Vaughan; COVID-19; Emergency incidents; Fire and rescue service; Pandemic; Temporal analysis