HERMISTON — Umatilla County Fire District 1 responded to a single-month record number of calls for service in July, answering 525 tone-outs in 31 days.

The new record shattered the previous mark of 459 calls in a single month.

“We’re a growing community and we’re accustomed to the steady increase in calls for service over time. But this is the biggest jump I can remember and it really pushed us to the limit,” said Fire Chief Scott Stanton. “The extra calls for COVID-19 transport played a role in that, but even without them it would have been the busiest month we’ve ever seen.”

Emergency medical technicians responded to 425 medical calls, including 59 for transport of COVID-19 patients. Firefighters also responded to 22 fires — 18 in fields, three in buildings and one involving a vehicle. Only three calls were false alarms.

Because of the high volume of calls, there were 12 delays of ambulance service because all personnel and vehicles were on other calls.

“Having the right number of staff on duty and volunteers on call is one of the biggest challenges we’re facing this year,” Stanton said. “Responding to every call as quickly as possible is our top priority. Every call we get has the potential to be a life or death situation, and we take that very seriously.”