Allegheny County EMS and Fire 911 Dispatches by Census Block

911 center dispatches for 111 of 130 municipalities in Allegheny County. Data includes EMS and Fire events with details aggregated to census block groups and quarterly/yearly timeframes to protect privacy. Call descriptions are based on initial caller reports and are not updated with later corrections.

Use Cases

• Analyze the frequency of sensitive health-related call types, flagged in the data, across different census block groups and quarters.
• Map aggregated event locations to census block groups to identify geographic patterns in EMS and Fire dispatches.
• Study the distribution of call types, including those recorded as 'null' or 'Removed' in the Description_Short field, over time.
• Compare dispatch volumes between EMS and Fire services for events requiring both, identifiable via different Call IDs.

Strengths

• Covers 111 out of 130 municipalities in Allegheny County, providing broad geographic coverage.
• Implements privacy protections by aggregating location to census block groups and time to quarter/year.
• Explicitly flags call types containing sensitive health information, such as mental health or overdose.

Limitations

• Call descriptions are based on initial caller information and are not updated with later corrections or actual dispositions.
• A subset of records has no call type recorded, preserved with a 'null' in the Description_Short field.
• Data for sensitive health calls is redacted ('Removed') if the count for a block group and quarter is less than 5, potentially limiting analysis.

Provenance

Source

Allegheny County / City of Pittsburgh / Western PA Regional Data Center

Collection Method

Dispatched events from a computer aided dispatch (CAD) system.

Freshness

Last updated on 2023-05-14.

Geography

Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, specifically 111 municipalities.