Lebanon Fire District reported it responded to 7,181 emergency incidents in 2025.
The district said it has seen an increase of nearly 7% in calls since 2022, and added that the growing community also involves a growing demand for emergency services. However, certain limitations are straining their ability to respond with adequate staffing.
“Fire protection and emergency medical services are directly tied to the size of the community we serve,” Fire Chief John Tacy said. “As Lebanon continues to grow, our firefighters are responding to more calls across a larger and more active city.”
In 2025, ambulances and firefighter-paramedics responded to the majority of incidents, providing patient care, transporting patients and remaining at hospitals until transfer of care was complete. While out on those calls, units are unable to respond to new emergencies coming in during that time.
The district said that providing ambulance service has become more challenging in recent years. According to them, rising operational costs, funding limitations, inflation and ongoing staffing shortages have affected EMS systems across Oregon and the nation, including Lebanon.
Exacerbating the situation, the district has faced increasing difficulty recruiting and retaining qualified paramedics.
As such, the LFD said it is forced to reduce ambulance staffing.
In 2024, the district decided it would take one medic ambulance, known as M30, out of service, effective January 2026. Once implemented, the reduction will leave even fewer ambulances available to respond to emergencies, further straining limited resources during periods of high medical call volume.
The reduction in ambulance service may translate into remaining units being used for longer periods of time, and crews will have to carefully coordinate responses and prioritize calls when emergencies happen simultaneously.
When looking at how often incidents occur at the same time, the impact of the workload becomes clearer.
Last year, 2,054 incidents occurred without any other emergency happening concurrently. The remaining 5,127 calls overlapped with one or more active incidents. Many overlapped with two or three others, and on several occasions the district was managing six or more emergencies at once.
Each incident commits firefighters, ambulances and engines for the duration of the call, meaning those same resources are not available for new emergencies until they return to service.
The district understands that for many residents it may appear each emergency has a dedicated crew waiting at the station, but in reality, the same firefighters, engines and ambulances are shared across all calls. As such, when incidents overlap, response distances can increase and fewer options are available until additional resources arrive or neighboring agencies are able to assist.
They reality becomes especially clear during structure fires, they said. National standards for career fire agencies recommend a minimum of four firefighters on each engine or truck company and at least 15 firefighters on the initial alarm for a low-hazard structure fire, with additional staffing required for higher-risk or larger incidents.
These standards exist because many critical tasks must occur at the same time, including search and rescue, hose line advancement, ventilation, water supply, fire suppression and firefighter safety operations.
For a typical single-family house fire, recommended staffing would include approximately 15 firefighters plus a battalion chief, who serves as the incident commander and oversees the entire fireground. One engine company would be assigned to fire attack, with a lieutenant and firefighter advancing a hose line inside the structure while an engineer operated the pump. A second engine company would provide a backup hose line, again staffed with a lieutenant, firefighter and engineer.
A truck company would typically handle rescue and ventilation functions, and would be staffed with a lieutenant, engineer and firefighter. Two medic units would also be assigned. One medic crew would serve as the Rapid Intervention Crew, dedicated to firefighter rescue if needed, while the second medic crew would provide medical support and rotate with interior crews to manage fatigue and safety.
Altogether, this structure provides the recommended 15 firefighters and one battalion chief, meeting the national minimum for a low-hazard residential fire. In Lebanon, initial fire responses often begin with fewer firefighters until additional on-duty crews, volunteers, off-duty personnel or mutual-aid partners arrive. When fires occur during periods of heavy medical activity or multiple simultaneous incidents, available staffing may already be spread across the community.
LFD operates as a special service district, which means it is funded differently than city departments such as police or public works. Rather than drawing from the City of Lebanon’s general fund, the fire district relies primarily on a dedicated tax base set at the time of its formation. That funding structure does not automatically increase as population, call volume or service demands grow, making long-term planning closely tied to changes in the community it serves.
Throughout 2025, LFD firefighters responded to every call for help while also balancing training requirements, equipment maintenance and coordination with regional partners. That workload often meant crews were moving directly from one incident to the next, with limited opportunities to return to stations, reset staffing or restore full coverage before another call came in.
The data from the year illustrates how emergency response operates as a shared, finite system – one that becomes increasingly stretched as call volume grows and incidents overlap more frequently.
“As our community grows and calls increase and overlap more frequently, understanding how emergency response works becomes increasingly important,” Tacy said.
Residents interested in learning more about call volume, response trends and operational data can explore the district’s public data dashboards at data.lebanonfireoregon.gov.
The data hub is continually being updated and expanded, with additional dashboards planned in the coming months to provide greater transparency and insight into district operations. Additional information about services, programs and community resources is available at LebanonFireOregon.gov.