Increase in 999 callouts
Lincolnshire Integrated Voluntary Emergency Service (LIVES) attended 1,748 emergency 999 callouts in December - an increase of 30 per cent on the previous year.
LIVES headquarters’ Stephen Hyde said that for the last three years calls had been around 1,250 to 1,350 and they knew they had been busier than normal but had not expected this many extra calls.
He said: “It was a surprise to us all just how many more calls we had gone to. We have recruited more first responders and medics and we know we can offer more coverage throughout Lincolnshire, helping EMAS but we had expected our call numbers to be around 1,500, so over 1,700 was a real shock.”