Visualization 1

Visualization 1

Interpretation

When first looking at the data set from Fire Department Calls for Service my initial thoughts were to look at fires and how they relate to other variables such as time. Seeing the column name 'call type' and the different categories call type had I then began to question if fires were the type of incident with the most calls. I decided to create this stacked area chart to determine what type of incident is the most called into the San Francisco Fire Departments. Looking at this chart I found that Medical Incidents are in fact the most popular type of incident that is called in for the time interval we specified. After finding this out, we decided to investigate how time can relate to other attributes in our dataset for Medical Incidents. Our next two visualizations focus on time in relation to location (such as districts) for called in Medical Incidents.

About these Call Types

In this visualization we see the top 5 types of calls that the San Franisco Fire Department has recieved in the last 3 months, but what exactly constitutes each of these call types? Here's a breif description explaining each of these 5 categories:

Medical Incidents: When you or your family are hurt or injured, you want help to arrive quickly.

Structure Fire: If the components of a structure (e.g., framing; walls or ceilings; roof; floor) catch fire, you have a “structure fire”. A fire involving only the contents of a structure (e.g., furnishings; tools; equipment; personal belongings; stored materials) is technically not a structure fire.

Alarms: Fire alarms can be connected to the fire department through fire alarm monitoring, but the default option is a “single-station” fire alarm, which is not connected to the fire department. With fire alarm monitoring, the system is connected to the fire department.

Traffic Collision: An auto accident scene can also result in many other hazards, including electrical/arcing wires, structural damage/intrusion into buildings, natural gas/propane leaks, spills of gasoline or other flammable liquid leaks, and other potential hazardous materials situations. A typical dispatch for an auto accident will likely include emergency medical services (EMS) units.

Citizen Assist/Service Call: this can be for individuals with special needs who may require extra assistance in an emergency. Examples are: senior citizens, people with hearing, vision, or speech impairments, people with physical disabilities, people who are ventilator.

Discussion

It is clear that Medical Incidents are the most popular types of incidents that get called into the San Francisco Fire Department during our indicated interval. As this may seem like a surprise if you considered fires to be the most popular incident, you may be asking why do fire engines go to medical emergencies? The answer is simply because of pre-hospital care system. Fire departments and abulance companies are medically trained and work together in pre-hospital situations. The way this system works is that firefighters everywhere are trained at the basic life support level or higher so they can intercede in life-threatening situations. When they arrive, the firefighters begin providing medical care. When the ambulance arrives, their personnel become part of the team, they enhance the medical care and transport the patient to the hospital. Another plus to fire departments helping in this pre-hospital care system is that fire trucks usually carry three emergency responders and an ambulance usually carries two. Most medical incidents usually require four to five personnel which makes the duo an excellent care system for medical incidents. Quoting from the article, Firefighters respond to all kinds of emergencies, "When you really stop to think about all the types of incidents we are trained for and respond to, maybe we should change our name from Fire Department to Emergency Responders," which is our title for this project to point out that figherfighters are trained and equiped to handle a lot more than just fires.

Credit

Data: Fire Department Calls for Service. (Check our Data/Processing page for more information)
Template: This template was used from the University of San Francisco's CS 360/560 Data Visualization class.

Resources for stacked area chart:
Michael Keller's D3 Stacked Area Chart Example
Anaelia Ovalle's D3 Stacked Area Chart Example
Mike Bostock's Stacked Area Chart

Other Fire Department Information:
Medical Incidents
Structure Fire
Alarms
Traffic Collisions
Citizen Assist Call

About Me