July 4, 2025
With Independence Day 2025 now behind us, we wanted to examine the holiday's impact on our local community. According to Pulse Point, Kitsap County Fire and EMS agencies responded to a total of 165 calls for service. However, it is worth noting that police activity is not included on PulsePoint for safety reasons. We can then assume that the actual call volume was likely much higher than what was reported.
For Fire and EMS agencies, this breaks down to an average of 6.8 calls per hour. Speaking from experience, many of our fire departments average around fourteen calls per day; however, that is the department as a whole, with each station averaging around six to eight calls per day.
Imagine the strain this put on local agencies when stations were averaging their daily call volume in a single hour. Monitoring the scanner revealed that by late afternoon, our local system was overwhelmed. CENCOM, our local 911 dispatch center, faced severe challenges, leading to many 911 calls either failing to connect or causing callers to be placed on long hold times.
At no point was this more distressing than between 10:00 PM and 11:00 PM, when Kitsap County experienced a total of nine active working fires. Try to imagine having a loved one suffer a heart attack, or looking out your window to see your garage on fire, only to be placed on hold when calling 911.
While Kitsap County's firework-related injury statistics are not known, several residents were displaced due to house and garage fires. At the same time, Harborview, the regional trauma center, reported seeing 52 patients with fireworks-related injuries, including having to amputate one hand. (KIRO 7 News Staff, 2025)
While we at Crew 58 love the 4th of July and enjoy celebrating, we also hope this blog has illustrated how delicate our local emergency services are and how quickly we can run out of resources.
We think everyone should get basic First Aid and CPR training for instances such as July 4, 2025. If you call for help and are put on hold or are put on a list for the fire department to respond eventually, the skills you have could mean the difference between life and death.
Reference
KIRO 7 News Staff. (2025, July 7). Harborview treats 52 people for fireworks injuries over July Fourth weekend. KIRO 7 News Seattle. https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/harborview-treats-52-people-fireworks-injuries-over-july-fourth-weekend/HJMP435LMNAKLEUWVVOOUGE2FI/