By Norm Uhl, CCEMS PIO
The Cypress Creek EMS Communications Center answered 42,005 medical calls in 2018. That’s a new record, up nearly four percent from 2017 and 20 percent since 2014. Here’s the five year growth picture.
What is fueling the increase is open to discussion, however there is continued significant growth in the Cypress Creek EMS area. Here are the population estimates for the CCEMS area from Emergency Services District 11’s Demographer.
2014 – 500,955
2015 – 515,055
2016 – 528,500
2017 – 542,891
2018 – 551,822
2019 – 557,524
There has also been tremendous growth in the areas for which CCEMS provides 9-1-1 and dispatch service. CCEMS provides this service to 14 other agencies. The total number of calls in 2018 actually went down when compared to 2017, but that was the year of Hurricane Harvey. Compared to the last non-hurricance year (2016) calls have increased almost 24 percent. Communications Manager Niky Smith says, ‘I’m proud of my team for keeping up with the growth of our center. We currently have about 35 Call-Takers/Dispatchers and are looking to hire four more in April. It won’t be long before we are processing 100,000 calls a year!!”
Here’s the five-year chart followed by the list of agencies for which we handle dispatch.
Spring Fire Department, Ponderosa Fire Department, Cypress Creek Fire Department, Little York Fire Department, Klein Fire Department, Champions – ESD 29, ESD 48 Fire-EMS-Rescue, Westlake Fire Department, Community Fire Department, Harris County Fire Marshal, Harris County Hazardous Materials, South East Texas Regional Advisory Council (SETRAC), Emergency Medical Task Force 6 (EMTF6), Pearland Fire Department, and Stafford Fire Department (added after Harvey).
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