Despite putting a seventh city ambulance in service in mid-2018, Lincoln Fire and Rescue's paramedics remain swamped responding to emergency medical calls in the growing city, retiring Fire Chief Micheal Despain said.
Call volumes in Lincoln continue climbing at three times the rate of population growth, mainly because of the medical needs of the city's aging population, Despain said.
Medical calls comprise about three-quarters of the nearly 27,000 incidents fire and rescue crews respond to each year, according to department statistics.
"That is a trend that is going to continue on, and it's a little scary," Despain said in an interview last week.
Despain, who was appointed fire chief in 2016 after 32 years in fire service in California, will retire at the end of the month and sees staffing challenges as one of the continuing pressures on the department in the coming years.