Overlapping calls are something Newton Fire Chief Jarrod Wellik is keeping an eye on. An overlapping call is when one ambulance or fire truck is out on an emergency call, and another call comes in. Chief Wellik says that happened a lot in 2024.

“576 times last year, I had two emergencies going on. 107 times I had three calls overlapping, 37 times I had four calls overlapping, and 16 times I had five or more overlaps.”

Wellik says those numbers are alarming because that’s about 1,700 calls that overlapped, which is just under 50% of the department’s total calls last year. He feels that exposes the city to a liability if an ambulance is not available. The Newton Fire Chief estimates he had to call a mutual aid partner from another community for an ambulance ten times last year.