In addition to the hourly rate, the Officers of the Fire Department receive a yearly honorarium. The employment of 30 firefighters allows a reasonable manpower response to an incident. Manpower at a fire call is approximately 12 to 15 during the daytime and 22 to 25 during the evening. This is a very cost effective method of employing firefighters within the Community. The call volume or numbers of calls for the year 2000 was 443.
Fire calls increase slightly over the years, usually as a function of the population increase.
The Fire Dept. responds when a citizen calls 911 and its not a Police or Ambulance emergency. Response time is an important issue as this relates to the effectiveness of the Fire Dept. This is important because the quicker the firefighters arrive at a scene, the quicker medical aid can be administered or the less damage is caused as the result of a fire. The average response time of Grimsby Fire Dept. is approximately six minutes. So, when 911 is called the first Fire Dept. vehicle will show-up within the first six minutes on average.