During the height of the COVID shutdown in 2020, before the introduction of vaccines, people avoided leaving their homes and few wanted to go to a hospital.
Attleboro area fire departments were answering fewer ambulance calls as people remained isolated to avoid spreading germs and there were fewer cars on the road getting into accidents.
But now, area fire officials say, fewer people are working from home, more accidents are occurring as more people drive and some letting their guard down and getting ill. Some cited an aging population as an additional factor.
“You could say we are getting back to normal,” Foxboro Fire Chief Michael Kelleher said.
Last year, Foxboro had 4,085 service calls, up 3.6% from the 3,942 calls in 2021.
Service calls include all types of runs, including ambulance responses and building fires and alarms.
In North Attleboro, firefighters responded to 5,372 calls last year, which is a 7% increase from 2021 and a 36% increase from 2016, according to Fire Chief Christopher Coleman.
“It’s the growth of the town,” Coleman said, adding that the calls so far this year are on track to be higher than last year.
In the last few years, a large apartment building sprouted up on East Street on the site of the former Balfour building and The Branches of North Attleboro senior living community opened on Toner Boulevard, Coleman said.
In addition, the fire chief said, a new residential area was built off Route 1.
According to the fire chief, 15% of the population in town — which is now over 30,000 — is age 65 or over.
In Attleboro, calls went from 8,628 in 2021 to 9,321 in 2022 for an 8% increase. The calls increased 18% from the 7,886 in 2019.
Attleboro Fire Chief Scott Lachance said the city has grown with apartment buildings and complexes accounting for a majority of ambulance calls and other emergencies.
During the height of the pandemic in 2020 and before vaccines were available, calls in Mansfield were 3,098, well below normal.
“People really did not leave their homes or go to the hospital,” Fire Chief Justin Desrosiers said.
But in 2021, as more people got vaccinated and started venturing out, calls rose to 3,566 and 3,785 in 2022, for a 6.1% increase.
In Wrentham, there was almost a 38% increase in ambulance calls with 1,674 in 2022, up from 1,215 in 2021.
Wrentham Fire Chief Antonio Marino attributed the busier year to private ambulances no longer taking patients from nursing homes on non-emergency calls, such as doctor’s appointments.
The lack of private service has shifted the burden onto the town, he said. Although the two town ambulances can only take patients to a hospital for emergencies, firefighters get called to help nursing home patients get inside vehicles that take them to appointments as well as calls for falls inside the facilities.
“We are here to take care of people in the community,” Marino said.
But because private ambulances are no longer performing the services they used to, Marino said the department and other towns who have limited resources are forced to pick up the slack.
“Sometimes we have three or four calls at the same time and we have to rely on mutual aid” from other towns, Marino said.
“We rely on mutual aid and vice versa,” he said.
The fire chief said the wider issue is an EMT shortage, with towns and private ambulance companies vying for the pool of candidates who want to be first responders.
Most of the calls are from the town’s two nursing homes, the Wrentham Developmental Center and The Point, a large apartment complex that opened a few years ago on Ledgeview Way.
The impact of the development on the department is more than what it was projected to be when it was first proposed, the fire chief said.
The development has 240 apartments and there are also 130 units for assisted living and Alzheimer’s patients.
In Norton, firefighters answered 4,083 calls in 2021 and 4,249 in 2022 for a 4% increase.
Norton Deputy Fire Chief Mike Wilson said the department typically sees a 4% to 5% each year.
“It’s been pretty consistent. I don’t see any big surprise,” Wilson said.
Plainville firefighters answered 4.4% more calls in 2021 than in 2020. The figures for 2022 were not yet available but Fire Chief Richard Ball said he expected an increase because the town put a second ambulance in service.
In Rehoboth, there were 100 fewer ambulance calls in 2020 due to fewer people leaving the home or going to the hospital during the pandemic.
Overall responses have increased 19% in 2021-2022, compared to 2019-2020.
In 2019-2020, motor vehicle accidents dropped 15% because most people were working from home by March 2020.
“It seemed like we could go a week without an accident, and we obviously found that very weird, especially for Rehoboth,” Assistant Fire Chief Mark Haskell said in an email.
“They have returned back up to normal levels,” he said.
Haskell also noticed that people have become heavily dependent on requesting medical assistance for non-emergent issues.
“They also believe if they are brought in by ambulance, they will be seen right away or sooner, compared to walking in,” Haskell said.
“This is a myth. Every patient gets ‘triaged’ in the hospital, no matter how they arrive... walking in, arriving by horseback or by ambulance, all get treated the same and are given priority by the seriousness of the injuries or sickness,” Haskell said.
As the town continues to grow, he said, there will be more calls for service.