Decrease article font size
Increase article font size
The amount of time it takes firefighters to get to calls in Toronto is increasing as limited crews cope with an increase in calls in the locked down city.
Speaking before the Toronto committee, Fire Chief Jim Jessop said the service faces an “ongoing challenge” when it comes to how quickly trucks can get to a fire.
“The Toronto Fire Service continues to see an increase in travel times and overall response times, which is an ongoing issue that is primarily impacted by factors such as increased call volumes and unit readiness to respond,” he said Tuesday.
Travel times for trucks have been trending upward for years.
Receive daily national news
Get Canada’s daily headlines delivered to your inbox so you never miss the day’s top stories.
Officially, the Toronto Fire Department aims to spend no more than four minutes on calls 90 per cent of the time, a goal that has been drifting further and further away in recent years.
Story continues below advertisement
Back in 2021, the average travel time was five minutes and 51 seconds. In 2025, that time steadily increased to six minutes and 15 seconds, while the Toronto Fire only reached its target 53 percent of the time.
However, travel time is not the only indicator measured by the service.
Call handling times remain the same at just under a minute, while firefighters meet their target arrival time significantly faster.
More about Canada More videos
Figures presented to Toronto councilors show overall fire response times in Toronto remained relatively stable at about seven minutes and 44 seconds last year – up from seven minutes and 38 seconds in 2021.
“Call handling times, turnout times, travel times and overall response times are key performance indicators for the Toronto Fire Department and we benchmark them against them,” Jessop said.
“Our overall goal is to arrive on scene within six minutes and 24 seconds, 90 percent of the time. We achieved this in 76 percent of incidents in 2025.”
The report shows that the overall average time for firefighters to arrive after a call is just under nine minutes, which is 10 minutes and 40 seconds better than five years ago.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.