A Grand Traverse County fire department had a significant jump in the number of calls they responded to over the last year.
The Peninsula Township Fire Department had a 34 percent increase in call volume in 2018.
The chief says they expect to see a 5-10 percent increase every year.
Peninsula Township Fire Chief Fred Gilstorff says of the 561 calls his department responded to in 2018, most were medical. The department had just 416 calls in 2017.
“The increases were spread across the board, we saw increases in EMS runs, we had two major weather incidents during the summer time that accumulated probably 30 to 40 runs in a two day span,” said Gilstorff.
The department did not see an increase in the number of house fires they responded to, but the chief says when he saw such a big increase in call volume he wanted to take a closer look at what fueled it.