In FY2020, the City of Austin responded to 80%, or 197,110 of the total 245,343, emergency incidents within the established time standard for that type of response. 

This is an increase of 1% from FY2019, where 215,824 of the total 271,625 emergency incidents were responded to within the established time standard. 

Emergency calls are received as calls made to 3-1-1, calls to 9-1-1, and calls made directly to a City department. When 3-1-1 receives an emergency call, the call is routed to the department responsible for responding to that emergency. The call is then categorized and documented in the responding department's system. Similarly when someone calls 9-1-1 and is asked if they need Police, Fire, or EMS, dispatch will triage the call to the appropriate department(s). Throughout the emergency response process, a department can re-categorize an emergency call type as more information becomes available. For example, a response to a call initially prioritized as a non-emergency may result in finding dangerous or potentially dangerous conditions that require emergency action.

There was a slight improvement from FY2019 to FY2020 in the percentage of emergency responses that meet the established time standards for the specific type of response. For 2020, public safety departments have been working directly in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, which may impact this measure. Other factors that may impact this measure include personnel staffing, attrition, and response to public demonstrations that occurred during the summer.  

Note: To see the underlying data for this chart, please select the "View Source Data" link.

Use the filter on the top right corner of the graph to view by department. 

AUSTIN CODE DEPARTMENT: The Austin Code Department utilizes the Code Enforcement Response Matrix (C-TERM), an automated system, to determine call priorities and set clear expectations for response times to customer concerns. Response times are based on a variety of factors, including time-sensitivity and risks to life safety. For FY2020, the department response rate was 91%, a significant increase from the response rate of 71% in FY2019.   

EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES (EMS): EMS responses are based on the dispatch of the closest ambulance to the incident. Priority 2 - 5 calls may have an ambulance diverted to a Priority 1 if that available ambulance is closer to the Priority 1 call. EMS is currently meeting its time goals for Priorities 2 - 5. EMS was below goal for Priority 1 calls in FY2020 at 87%, but is actively exploring opportunities to improve this measure, such as  relocating and adding more ambulances to cover geographic areas that are not meeting response time goals. EMS is not currently meeting this target in part due to increased call volume, extended triage due to COVID-19, traffic congestion, and limited resources.

FIRE: In FY2020, Austin Fire Department (AFD) responded to emergency incidents within 8 minutes, 78.3% of the time. Within the core of the city, AFD has several fire stations within close proximity of each other, which allows AFD to have adequate backup unit coverage. When moving further into the periphery of the city, stations are further apart from each other and there is not as much depth of fire stations. Therefore, as a result, some areas within the periphery of the city are experiencing longer response times. Other factors that contribute to longer response times include distance from fire stations, road connectivity, and traffic congestion. As the City continues to build new fire stations, per City Council Resolution No.20180524-035, the department anticipates continuous improvement in response times. During the summer of 2020, the Del Valle/Moore’s Crossing Fire/EMS station was completed and is currently in operation.

POLICE: In FY2020, Austin Police Department (APD) was not on target for this measure. Factors affecting this measure include increased call volume, increased amount of time spent on calls, frontline staffing shortages, and personnel overtime.  APD’s emergency calls included in this measure are for Priority 0 (Priority zero or P0) and Priority 1 (P1).  For FY2020, the department response rate was 40% for Priority 0 calls and 59% for Priority 1 calls.

WATER: Austin Water continued to respond to water and wastewater emergencies within the expected parameters in FY2018, FY2019, and FY2020. In FY2020, Austin Water’s response rate for water related emergencies was 91.4% and 93.4% for wastewater related emergencies.

In addition to the five departments represented in this data set - Austin Code, Austin Police, Austin Fire, Emergency Medical Services and Austin Water - the Watershed Protection Department (WPD) and Austin Energy (AE) respond to multiple types of emergencies. 

WATERSHED PROTECTION DEPARTMENT (WPD) responds to after-hour service calls, such as requests to retrieve items (e.g., keys, phones) dropped in storm drain inlets as well as monitoring and closing low-water crossings during storms; investigating failing infrastructure; operating the Waller Creek Tunnel in wet weather conditions; and mitigating spills of hazardous materials.  For the Waller Creek Tunnel, staff have a defined target of arriving at the tunnel inlet facility within one hour after the flow in Waller Creek at 23rd Street exceeds 500 cubic feet per second. For Spills Response, staff have a defined target of responding within one hour for events that pose an active and immediate threat to water quality. Both targets are currently internal goals for the department and have not been adopted as formal performance measures. 

AUSTIN ENERGY responds to power outages, downed power lines, calls about unsafe equipment, and issues that disrupt the safe delivery of energy to Austin residents. The utility has operational/dispatch priorities for emergency response. Highest priorities (those that come before electric restorations) include, responding to fire and police requests for assistance and to responding to life threatening situations. If Austin Energy field personnel are overtaxed with high priority emergency requests, a standing process is triggered so that additional internal and/or contractor resources are called in to provide support. With the exception of those highest priorities, outages and restorations are measured through the System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) and System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI). Performance information for SAIDI and SAIFI is located in Austin Energy's Annual Performance Report, and the raw data within this report can be accessed here: https://data.austintexas.gov/Utilities-and-City-Services/System-Reliability/ddh8-gyev