It was a busy start to 2013 for emergency calls in the Niagara Region.

The region reports, that in a two day period between Dec. 31, 2012 and Jan. 1, 2013, EMS responded to 439 calls.

Compared to the same time last year, this year's call volume was an average of nine calls an hour or 155 more calls.

Twenty per cent of the calls were respiratory and cardiac in nature, 14 per cent were due to falls, seven per cent as the result of violence and six per cent were for motor vehicle collisions.

Niagara EMS anticipated the call volume for New Year's celebrations across Niagara and added four ambulances and two dispatchers for that peak period.

The Niagara Parks Commission picked up the tab for the extra EMS staff added for the big concert at Queen Victoria Park.