Every year at the Lake of the Ozarks thousands of people pour in from all over the country to spend the long weekend celebrating and remembering the fallen soldiers from our country. This year was no different except busier.

The following numbers are based on starting dates of Friday-Monday of Memorial Day as that is when we begin seeing traffic getting heavier and people arriving to our area.

Memorial Day Weekend of 2021 the Osage Beach Fire Protection District responded to a total of 27 incidents.

Memorial Day Weekend of 2022 the Osage Beach Fire Protection District responded to a total of 41 incidents.

This 65% increase in calls shows how much busier our area is becoming. The fire district has been utilizing the same staffing numbers that we have used since 2008 of 2 engine companies responding out of 2 firehouses across 105 square miles.

With recent incident summaries showing a steady increase in call volume we can expect that we may have a record number of incidents by the end of 2022. This increase in call volume increases the likelihood of overlapping incidents meaning more than one incident happening at the same time. Currently, the fire district can respond to 2 incidents at the same time without calling for mutual aid from a neighboring district which increases response time.