An analysis of fire departments nationwide found DeKalb and Sycamore’s response times from 1986 to 2002 were slightly short of recommended guidelines in past years, although they are ahead of most departments.

The analysis was part of a report published earlier this year by the Boston Globe, which studied 20,000 fire departments’ voluntarily-reported building fires and response times to the National Fire Incident Reporting System from 1986 to 2002.

The report listed the DeKalb and Sycamore fire departments with virtually identical response times. Both departments met the six-minute standard response time 83.5 percent and 83.6 percent of the time, respectively.

The National Fire Protection Association established a standard response time goal of six minutes or less on 90 percent of calls as a guideline for career fire departments in 2001.

“Certainly the most desirable thing is to meet the criteria for response times all the time,” DeKalb Fire Chief Lanny Russell said.

Russell said meeting the goal is difficult when the department receives clusters of calls.

“We can do that response time when it’s the first call that we have,” Russell said.

But response times slow down when the department receives multiple calls for fires and ambulances within a short period of time, he said.

Sycamore Fire Chief Bill Riddle said the department is doing well with an average response time of four minutes.

But Riddle said he expected travel time to slow down as the city grows to the north and east.

The response time was established with the goal of getting fires under control quickly before they become more dangerous, said Gary Tokle, assistant vice president of public fire protection for the NFPA.

After six minutes, the chances of certain fire phenomenon such as flashovers – where objects and surfaces in a room are heated to combustion temperatures and ignite – can increase, Tokle said.

One minute is taken into consideration for call processing and dispatch and another for turnout time, when the firefighters are notified and prepare the necessary gear and equipment, Tokle said.

The remaining four minutes are for travel time, Tokle said.

The need for quicker responses comes at a time when funding for more personnel and equipment is tight.

Russell said increased manpower is necessary in order to deal with the increased number of calls.

“We are getting busier,” Russell said. “The only way to deal [is] with more firefighters.”

The DeKalb Fire Department is in talks with the city to add more firefighters to the 51 on shift, not including officers and chiefs, Russell said.

Riddle said competition for budget money is always high.

“Everybody has needs,” Riddle said. “It’s been a very long time since we increased manning here. I think anything we do has to be justified.”

The department recently promoted one firefighter to lieutenant and hired another firefighter who is expected to start around March 1, Riddle said.

The addition will bring the department to 22 career and 18 paid-on-call firefighters, Riddle said.

Minimum manning at Sycamore stations have increased from a four-man shift to a five-man shift, which insures the department will have a second ambulance able to go on a second call for service, Riddle said.

Riddle said the department also received $32,000 in federal funding in 2004 to purchase new turnout gear.