ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — "We’re receiving fewer calls than we have in a very long time," St. Augustine Fire Chief Carlos Aviles said.
The call volume for the St. Augustine Fire Department is more "indicative of what our call volume was 15 to 16 years ago," he said.
Aviles believes the decline has to do with fewer tourists is the tourism-driven city.
"Before the pandemic, when tourism was wide open, we were running anywhere between 16 to 20 calls a day," he said.
Chief Aviles said the calls have now gone down by a third.
The population inside St. Augustine's city limits is about 15,000. According to the police chief, there are about 9,500 tourists per day in St. Augustine. Without the tourists, there is a smaller group of people in need of emergency services.
"We’re finally protecting a population we’re designed to do right now," Aviles said.
However, the director of St. Johns County’s Visitor and Convention Bureau said the drop in emergency calls may not be because of fewer tourists, but it may simply be because fewer people – including locals -- are on the roads and so there are fewer car crashes to respond to.
Whatever the reason for the decrease in calls, one thing is going up.
"What has increased is the number of calls where we’re required to wear protective equipment," he said.