DENVER — Being busy comes with the job when you sign up to be a firefighter. But as it turns out, their most hectic day had nothing to do with fighting fires. December 24th was the busiest day ever for the Denver Fire Department and there was a lot of water involved.
"It was a crazy day for us," said JD Chism with the Denver Fire Department. "We all saw it coming. We saw it had the potential to freeze some pipes."
Of all the crazy days, December 24 was the craziest. The craziest ever.
Denver Fire responded to the most calls in a single day in the department’s entire history the day before Christmas. There were only three fires, 21 car crashes and an average amount of EMS calls. Then there was onslaught of people calling because their pipes had burst.
"On a day like the 24th, everybody was going," said Chism. "It was an all hands on deck situation."
Denver Fire usually responds to between 300 and 400 calls a day. As temperatures warmed up after a brutal freeze, the department fielded 809 calls for help and responded to 579 on December 24th. Around half dealt with water problems.
Of the 277 incidents South Metro Fire Rescue responded to on the 24th, 94 were related to water emergencies, according to the department.
As Denver and its surrounding counties grow, the number of calls firefighters respond to grows as well. 2022 was also the busiest year ever for Denver Fire.
"Some water breaks are really easy," said Chism. "We can identify really quickly where that break is and we can identify where the shut off valve is. There are others where we’re going to have to search throughout the building."
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