ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – St. Johns County firefighters responded to nearly 65,000 events in the past year, marking a 1.9% increase from last year, according to the fire department.
The increase in calls for service amounts to an average of nearly 178 events per day, making 2024 the busiest year on record for St. Johns County firefighters.
Since the beginning of the year, the county has dealt with seven house fires, reflecting a growing workload driven by population growth.
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“We’ve increased significantly over the last 10 years, and it’s mainly due to the population,” said Chris Naff with St. Johns County Fire Rescue. “It’s the growth in Nocatee, the growth in Silverleaf and Rivertown.”
In 2024, the department responded to 64,932 calls, which ranged from fires and special events to marine rescues.
“So that number includes 911 calls. It also includes our Marine Rescue numbers, our summer numbers, as well as what they run throughout the whole year. It does include special events like TPC and the Sing Out Loud Festival, where we will actually run multiple calls under one event number. It’s 911 calls, like I said. It’s also EMS calls, fire calls, wrecks, and a little bit of training in there,” he said.
To meet the rising demand, the county is expanding its resources, including hiring 31 new firefighters on Jan. 21. Four new stations are also planned to open in the next four years, with one scheduled by the end of this year.
“We have a regional training facility that’s soon to be built as soon as we find some land for that. So we’re growing just as the pace of the call volumes growing too,” Naff said.
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The increase in calls isn’t limited to general emergencies. Firefighters have also seen a rise in house fires.
Many of these incidents are linked to electrical issues in aging homes or people overloading electrical outlets.
“We call working fires, like we’re putting hose lines on the ground, we’re putting ladders to the roof, we’re searching for victims inside the house. So they’ve been working fires, which is pretty high for us,” Naff said.
Thankfully, Naff said they did not have any fatalities last year though there were some reported injuries.
For residents of older homes, Naff offered safety advice.
“Don’t overload your outlets, don’t plug more than a couple things in, and then, if you’re having issues with breakers tripping, get those looked at by an electrician, and make sure everything’s protected,” he said.
To illustrate the growth in call volume, Naff shared historical data.
In 2014, the department responded to 38,712 calls. By 2024, that number had jumped to nearly 65,000.
Here’s a year-by-year breakdown:
- 2014: 38,712 calls
- 2015: 49,705 calls
- 2016: 46,933 calls
- 2017: 48,251 calls
- 2018: 57,730 calls
- 2019: 50,180 calls
- 2020: 52,073 calls
- 2021: 56,424 calls
- 2022: 61,373 calls
- 2023: 63,720 calls
- 2024: 64,932 calls
“We need the support from the public—we need more stations, we need more apparatus and more personnel,” Naff said.
As St. Johns County continues to grow, firefighters are striving to keep up with demand while encouraging the community to take proactive safety measures.