Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department

InfoboxFireDepartment
name = Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department

motto = Provide the highest quality services to protect the lives, property, and environment of our community.
established = 1949
staffing = Combination career and volunteer organization
strength = 1,600 career, 300 volunteer personnel
stations = 38
engines = 38
trucks = 14
rescues = 8
EMSunits = 42
FirstResponderBLSorALS = ALS and BLS
chief = Ronald L. MastinThe Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department is a career department supplemented by volunteers. The department provides fire suppression, emergency medical, technical rescue, hazardous materials, water rescue, life safety education, fire prevention and arson investigation services to Fairfax County, Virginia. Emergency medical services include advanced life support response by ALS capable engines and transport units.

As part of the Northern Virginia regional response system, Fairfax County Fire and Rescue is labeled number 4 in the 800 MHz trunked radio system. All FCFR units begin with 4 followed by the station number. For example, the engine from station 4 is Engine 404, and the tower-ladder from station 36 is Tower 436. During an emergency that would require a response from multiple agencies, dispatchers are quickly able to identify what county a particular piece of apparatus came from.

Overview

Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department consists of 38 fire stations, numbered 401 through 442 with the Fairfax City Fire Department operating stations 403 and 433 and the Arlington County Fire Department operating station 106. The stations cover an area of 395 square miles. With over 1,300 uniformed staff, and 300 operational volunteers, Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department is the largest fire department in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

FCFRD is one of the most highly funded departments (per capita) in the nation, and is able to supply its employees with the most advanced technology available. As of January 1-2007, the department had an operating budget of nearly $175 million dollars (roughly $175 per person, compared with FDNY’s budget of $125 per person.)

Each year the department receives over 30,000 employment applications. The recruitment process is highly competitive and often takes over a year to complete all the necessary steps.

Fairfax County Fire and Rescue also sponsors one of the nation’s Urban Search and Rescue response teams. Named 'Virginia Task Force 1,' the team is rostered by approximately 200 specially trained career and volunteer fire and rescue personnel, with expertise in the rescue of victims from collapsed structures, following a natural or man-made catastrophic event. The team is composed of emergency managers and planners, physicians and paramedics and includes specialists in the fields of structural engineering, heavy rigging, collapse rescue, logistics, hazardous materials, communications, canine operations, and technical search. Virginia Task Force 1 has partnerships with the Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency for domestic response and the United States Agency for International Development/Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance during international missions. As a part of the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department, the task force maintains constant operational readiness as a local resource for residents of Fairfax County and surrounding jurisdictions.

There are 13 active volunteer fire departments in Fairfax County. Volunteers are active operationally as well as administratively - with nearly 300 volunteer personnel available to provide supplemental staffing for fire and rescue services. While some volunteer stations own and maintain their station, as well as owning the equipment, Fairfax County provides 24-hour staffing with paid firefighters and paramedics on three shifts.

Volunteers work hand in hand with the career staff, providing supplemental staffing on the career staffed fire engines, fire trucks, rescue squads, paramedic units and ambulances, as well as additional units such as fire engines, paramedic units, ambulances and canteens. Volunteers also provide resources for large community events like Celebrate Fairfax.

Each department works closely with the other volunteer fire departments in Fairfax County, pooling resources to provide the best possible service to the community.

Fire hydrants are quite common in Fairfax and thus the county only has 4 tanker trucks stationed in the few remaining rural parts of the county: Great Falls, Clifton, Crosspointe, and the area around U.S. Route 1 near Gunston.

In 2007 Fairfax Fire & Rescue responded to 92,088 calls, nearly 70% of which were EMS related.

Employees work rotating shifts, based on the “federal government system.”24on – 24off – 24on – 24off – 24on – 96off.

Fairfax County fire stations

External links

* [http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/fr/ Fairfax County Fire and Rescue homepage]
* [http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/fr/deptinfo/stations.htm FCFRD Station list]
* [http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/fr/download/2004_patches.pdf Department Patches]
* [http://www.fcvfra.org/ Fairfax County Volunteer Fire Rescue Association]