Manteca is a fast-growing community in San Joaquin County.
But what isn't increasing is the size of the fire department, the second busiest in the jurisdiction.
Fire Chief David Marques told KCRA crews respond to nearly 11,000 calls a year, and it's only gotten busier. The call volume has increased by 43% since 2017.
However, Marques said staffing has not kept up with demand.
"It would already be on an emergency incident when another incident comes in in this area, and so we'll have to pull resources from some other part of the city to cover this call,” Marques said.
His department currently operates with five fire stations, but the increase in calls and growing population is impacting response times. Sometimes, it take up to 10minutes to respond which he said isn't good.
“Our goal right now is to build a fire station six in the southwest part of town. Staff that with an engine company so that we can get to those calls in a timely manner."
