For the first time in years, Des Moines has experienced a decline in fire and emergency medical service calls — a change city officials attribute to targeted outreach efforts aimed at frequent 911 users and vulnerable populations.
Why it matters: The reduction could help conserve staff time and the department’s budget as city leaders grapple with improving response times for more urgent calls.
By the numbers: The fire department’s total calls in the first half of 2025 dropped about 2%, from 16,901 last year to 16,631 this year, fire chief John TeKippe told the City Council this week.
- That drop comes despite the addition of more than 130 new visits from the city’s Mobile Integrated Health Care (MIHC) team, which launched last year.
- The team responds to people in their homes, connecting high-need people with care and social services before they require emergency transport.
State of play: The city has been experiencing an increase in calls for over a decade, peaking at around 39,000 last year.
- Part of the rise has been attributed to people who make calls that may not rise to an emergency level.
Stunning stat: The department identified 85 people responsible for 1,450 EMS calls in 2022…