The City of Campbell River Fire Department provides fire prevention, suppression, and rescue services to the residents of Campbell River and surrounding areas. The Fire Department consists of two fire stations and a complement of career and paid on-call firefighters providing fire protection services throughout the city.
But did you know? Campbell River firefighters’ duties go beyond fire suppression; they are specially trained in areas like wildland firefighting, specialized rescue, vehicle rescue/extrication and hazardous materials response.
Additionally, the fire service is a critical part of pre-hospital emergency care in the community, with personnel responding to many medical calls because of their ability to respond quickly and their high degree of training. This is a critical service for residents when BC Ambulance is unable to be the first responder.
Along with response measures, the Fire Department helps to proactively improve people’s overall safety through activities like conducting fire inspections, administering fire safety plans, public education, FireSmart and fire investigations.
The Campbell River Fire Department is also an integral part of many day-to-day City operations, including the building plan review process, from the early stages of the permitting process to occupancy.
FIVE KEY AREAS OF SERVICE
Campbell River’s fire service is complex and operates five divisions that are key to providing a first-rate fire service, preventing fires and supporting residents in emergency situations. With exponential growth in calls for service and service provision over the last decade (and an average of 10 calls/day requiring response), these services are more critical than ever:
- Fire Prevention is legislatively responsible for fire prevention, fire inspections, development plan review, fire investigations, and public education.
- Fire Operations is responsible for fire suppression, fire training, technical rescue, vehicle rescue, medical response, hazardous materials response, apparatus and fleet maintenance, and facility maintenance.
- The Fire Dispatch Centre, located in the City of Campbell River’s No. 1 Fire Station, is responsible for dispatch services to 80 fire departments covering approximately 180,000 square kilometres from Central Vancouver Island to the northern tip of Vancouver Island.
- Emergency Management coordinates with the Strathcona Regional District Emergency Program Coordinator for all aspects of the City’s Emergency Program including training, emergency operations center (EOC), emergency communications, emergency exercises and grant funding.
- Fire Administration is responsible for department policy, procedures and operational guidelines, finance and budget, Freedom of Information & Protection of Privacy (FOIPPA) requests, recruitment, and human resources.
FIRE STATIONS AND STAFFING
The Fire Department is a composite model consisting of full-time and part-time paid-on-call firefighters who work out of two fire stations.
The No. 1 Fire Station consists of 20 career firefighters, assigned to one of four shifts with one Captain and four firefighters per shift, providing coverage 24 hours per day, seven days per week. The No.1 Fire Station is also home to our Fire Administration team, Fire Prevention Officer, emergency vehicle technician and the Fire Dispatch Centre.
The No. 2 Fire Station consists of four career firefighters providing daytime-only coverage seven days per week. One of these four members is also the department’s Training Officer.
The Campbell River Fire Department has approximately 50 paid-on-call firefighters operating from the two fire stations. 20 paid-on-call members are assigned to No. 1 Station, including a Captain and six Lieutenants. 30 paid-on-call members are assigned to No. 2 Station, including a Captain and six Lieutenants.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Contact information for the fire department. more...