Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department |
|
 |
|
| Established | 1949 |
| Staffing | Career, supplemented with volunteers |
| Strength | 1,600 |
| Stations | 38 |
| Engines | 38 |
| Trucks | 14 |
| Rescues | 8 |
| EMS Units | 42 |
| EMS Level | ALS and BLS |
| Fire chief | Ronald L. Mastin |
The Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department is a career department supplemented with 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 metro DC response zone, Fairfax County Fire and Rescue is labeled number 4 in the 800MHZ trucked 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.
[edit] Overview
Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department consists of 38 fire stations. (Fairfax City Fire & Rescue Department operates stations 3 and 33.) The stations cover an area of 395 square miles. With over 1,300 uniformed staff, Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department is the largest fire department in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
FCFR 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.)
A high level of professionalism, outstanding safety record, and superior career development make a position with FCFR highly valuable. 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 USAR (Urban Search and Rescue) response teams. Code-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 & Rescue Department, the task force maintains constant operational readiness as a local resource for residents of Fairfax County and surrounding jurisdictions.
There are 12 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.
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.
The department has recently come under scrutiny because of its aggressive Affirmative Action policies. Many believe the department to be supporting reverse-discrimination as it openly recruits minorities over white males.
| Station | Locality | Fire Units | EMS Units | Battalion Management | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engine | Truck | Heavy Squad | Tanker | Medic Unit | Ambulance | Battalion Chief | EMS Supervisor | ||||||
| Station 1 | McLean | X | X | X | X | X | |||||||
| Station 2 | Vienna | X | X | ||||||||||
| Station 4 | Herndon | X | X | ||||||||||
| Station 5 | Franconia | X | X | X | |||||||||
| Station 8 | Annandale | X | X | X | X | X | |||||||
| Station 9 | Mount Vernon | X | X | X | |||||||||
| Station 10 | Bailey's Crossroads | X | X | X | X | ||||||||
| Station 11 | Penn Daw | X | X | X | X | X | |||||||
| Station 12 | Great Falls | X | X | X | |||||||||
| Station 13 | Dunn Loring | X | X | X | |||||||||
| Station 14 | Burke | X | X | X | |||||||||
| Station 15 | Chantilly | X | X | ||||||||||
| Station 16 | Clifton | X | X | X | |||||||||
| Station 17 | Centreville | X | X | ||||||||||
| Station 18 | Jefferson | X | X | X | X | ||||||||
| Station 19 | Lorton | X | X | X | |||||||||
| Station 20 | Gunston | X | X | X | |||||||||
| Station 21 | Fair Oaks | X | X | X | X | X | |||||||
| Station 22 | Springfield | X | X | X | |||||||||
| Station 23 | West Annandale | X | X | ||||||||||
| Station 24 | Woodlawn | X | X | X | X | ||||||||
| Station 25 | Reston | X | X | X | X | ||||||||
| Station 26 | Edsall Road | X | X | X | X | ||||||||
| Station 27 | West Springfield | X | X | X | |||||||||
| Station 28 | Seven Corners | X | X | ||||||||||
| Station 29 | Tysons Corner | X | X | X | X | ||||||||
| Station 30 | Merrifield | X | X | X | |||||||||
| Station 31 | Fox Mill | X | X | X | |||||||||
| Station 32 | Fairview | X | X | X | |||||||||
| Station 34 | Oakton | X | X | ||||||||||
| Station 35 | Pohick | X | X | ||||||||||
| Station 36 | Frying Pan | X | X | X | |||||||||
| Station 37 | Kingstowne | X | X | X | |||||||||
| Station 38 | West Centreville | X | X | X | |||||||||
| Station 39 | North Point | X | X | X | |||||||||
| Station 40 | Fairfax Center | X | X | X | X | ||||||||
| Station 41 | Crosspointe | X | X | X | X | ||||||||
| Station 42 | Wolftrap | X | X | ||||||||||
[edit] External links
