Mental health crises, call volumes continue to burden slow-to-respond fire department

The Baltimore City Fire Department is making some progress on a variety of efforts to dig out from under the burdens of abnormally high call volumes, a staffing crunch and public health challenges such as the opioid epidemic. In a series of updates given to City Council’s public safety committee Wednesday, fire department leaders pointed to signs of slight improvement, particularly around restoring the depleted vehicle fleet and the ongoing challenge of long wait times that medics routinely face when dropping patients off at area hospitals.