Prince William County Department of Fire and Rescue (Virginia)

Prince William County is located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and is part of the Washington Metropolitan Area. It encompsses a total area of 348 square miles (900 km²). Prince William County includes within its boundaries the independent cities of Manassas and Manassas Park. It also includes four incorporated towns, Dumfries, Haymarket, Quantico and Occoquan. The current population of Prince William County is 402,002 (as of 2010 census).

Prince William County Department of Fire and Rescue was established in 1966. It's the 3rd largest fire department in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Mutual-Aid

As a result of the mutual-aid agreements in place in by Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments in the Washington Metropolitan Area, a standard numbering system was put into place for area fire departments. All units have a 3-digit designator, with the first digit denoting what agency the unit is from.

• • 000 series Washington, D.C.
  • 100 series Arlington County, Virginia (includes City of Falls Church)
  • 200 series City of Alexandria, Virginia
  • 300 series Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (includes Reagan National Airport and Dulles International Airport)
  • 400 series Fairfax County, Virginia (includes City of Fairfax)
  • 500 series Prince William County, Virginia (Includes City of Manassas and City of Manassas Park)
  • 600 series Loudoun County, Virginia
  • 700 series Montgomery County, Maryland
  • 800 series Prince George's County, Maryland
  • 900 series Frederick County, Maryland

Prince William County uses 500 series designators. For example, the engine from station 4 is Engine 504, and the tower-ladder from station 13 is Tower 513. During an emergency that would require a response from multiple agencies, dispatchers are quickly able to identify what county or city a particular piece of apparatus came from.

Sections

The Department of Fire and Rescue has three main sections to provide the highest level of service to the Prince William County. These sections are Community Safety, Operations, and Systems Support.

Community Safety

The Community Safety section’s primary responsibility is to reduce hazards that contribute to the cause and spread of fire. This area of responsibility is demonstrated through code enforcement, fire and explosion investigations, fire protection system and plan reviews, community fire and life safety education and emergency management.

Operations

The Operations section of the department is responsible for response to fire, emergency medical, hazardous materials and citizen assist calls. This section is also responsible for basic and advanced pre-hospital emergency medical care, fire hazardous materials incident mitigation and health and safety services for department members.

Systems Support

The Department’s Systems Support section is an internal customer service provider. The Systems Support section manages department programs and activities from “behind the scenes” to ensure prompt, efficient and effective service to the Prince William County. This section includes human resources, training, administrative support, budgeting and accounting, planning and analysis, information technology, logistical support and communications. Both uniform and non-uniform members staff this section, providing an eclectic mix of internal services to the department and its members.

Organization

Prince William County’s fire and rescue service is provided through a combination career and volunteer system. Within this system, career members and eleven volunteer organizations, which make-up the fire and rescue service, collectively work together to staff the fire stations 24-hours a day, seven days a week. Both services, under the administrative direction of the Fire and Rescue Association, uniformly seek to provide high quality and efficient fire fighting and emergency medical services to the Prince William County.

The Prince William County Department of Fire and Rescue staffs 20 stations from 6 AM to 6 PM Monday through Friday except for 7 stations 504, 506, 515, 516, 517, 524 and 525 are career staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year assisted by volunteer staff. There are also 9 Advanced Life Support Units career staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year at stations 503R, 504, 507, 511, 512, 514, 520, 524 and 525. The volunteer staff stations from 6 PM to 6 AM Monday through Friday, throughout the weekends, and on any holidays that career staff does not work.

Prince William County Fire Stations

Notice the Battalion Chiefs listed are for career hours (0600-1800 Mon-Fri) after 1800 they change to the volunteer battalion numbers.

References

External links

• Prince William County Department of Fire and Rescue
• Prince William County Government