Your fire department is an all-risk, full-service fire department. Staffed by dedicated women and men, we strive to identify threats to life, property, and the environment from a variety of sources: human and natural. The first line of defense against identified threats is education and prevention. We define risks, educate constituents to those risks and provide passive means of protection such as fire sprinklers, defensible space, smoke alarms, sandbags and public automatic emergency defibrillators.

When, as is sometimes the case, passive and self-protection are not enough, your fire department maintains an adequate, well-trained force of responders. These men and women are capable of extending emergency services such as fire suppression, rescue, medical aid, and hazardous material mitigation into any time, place or weather condition. Their training and skills are second to none and many of our people have been leaders in emergency response on a national level.

The fire department is organized around three concepts: prevention and education, emergency services and supporting services. The support services area is sub-divided into two areas: those that directly support the mission such as vehicle repair, wildland fire specialists, and computer and mapping services and those that indirectly support the mission such as finance, risk management, and facility maintenance.

I trust, as you scan the pages of the Fire Department Services Section that you will understand the meaning of "full-service" as it applies to a fire department.