‘We’re trying to demystify what fire services do’: Bend Fire & Rescue launches new data hub for the public

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) --  Twenty years of data from Bend Fire and Rescue is now available to the public. Bend Fire and Rescue recently launched a new data hub for the community. 

You can access information on the volume of calls, call types - whether it'd be medical, fire or motor vehicle accident and location of incidents. 

The data is updated regularly, and the information is anonymized so that individual addresses are not identified.

The data goes back to 2000, showing more than 20 years of information. The website is an effort to provide more transparency.

"We talked with our elected officials and our fire department and decided that we would work together with the office of performance management," Fire Chief Todd Riley said Wednesday. "It's another city department who put together another dashboard for the Police Department."

 A priority was making it user-friendly and not confronting residents with any confusing language. 

Bend Fire Deputy Chief of Operations Mike Hand, said, "Some of the jargon that we utilize in the fire service isn't germane to most folks who are looking at the dashboard externally. So we made it utilizing more plain language, so that folks knew what the information was that we were presenting to them"

Riley added, "We're trying to demystify what fire services do. We serve the community, and the community deserves to understand what it is that we do on a daily basis."

Hand said, "Take a look at the website, play around with it, look at some of the different filters that are available. Learn a little bit more about your fire department and the services that we provide."

Riley said there's also a benefit to department employees: "Having this data allows them to continue improving the way they respond to emergencies and help save lives."