Fort Worth Fire Dept. stands by response times during deadly July Fourth holiday

The Fort Worth Fire Department is standing behind its response protocol after a deadly Independence Day holiday.

The department responded to hundreds of calls during a 24-hour period. During one call, a 19-year-old died of fireworks burns.

The fire department released a snapshot of its work on July Fourth. And despite some complaints voiced, it is standing by its response protocol and how each incident was handled.

"Our companies were very busy,” said Mike Drivdahl with Fort Worth Fire. “We had several high priority calls that went out that night.”

The city's fire department says they had one death of a teenager who was fatally injured by fireworks in the southeast side neighborhood. There were also four significant trauma events, 26 assault, gunshot or stab wounds and five structure fires. That includes a vacant house on Rosedale Street that went up in flames on the holiday.

READ MORE: Fort Worth 19-year-old killed in fireworks accident

In review, Fort Worth Fire stands by its response protocol on the high profile holiday amid some complaints that times were not fast enough.

"We're always going to prioritize. Emergency calls are definitely what we respond to first. A cardiac arrest is a priority one call,” Drivdahl said. “Fireworks calls, we're going to prioritize those in our list of things and respond to those we see they fit into that priority scale."

Fort Worth City Councilwoman Gyna Bivins’ district includes Virgil Street where the video was recorded of the deadly fireworks accident. She says the message is clear that people need to abide by the law.

"What we tell people is you shouldn't set off fireworks in city limits. And when you do that, there's a chance it may not turn out well,” she said. “I believe we should do everything we can to make sure our response times are in step with industry practices. But I bet they're going to be the same within that margin of error every year because people do this every year."

The department says it worked in conjunction with police to handle each case as efficiently as possible.