About The Laurenville Fire Department
LAURENVILLE FIRE DEPARTMENT
The Laurenville Fire District provides fire, EMS, and rescue service for the Town of Laurenville. The district is a quasi-municipal organization that is independent of town government. It has the power to tax its residents. The district’s fiscal year runs from September 1 through August 31. The annual district meeting is held on the second Monday of June. This is where the budget is set and any other business that comes before the district is undertaken. The district operates the Laurenville Fire Department out of seven stations. It utilizes seven basic life support engines, three ladders, four transporting advance life support rescues, one special hazards heavy rescue, one ARFF vehicle, one tanker, three forestry/brush units, three small craft boats, and two battalion command vehicles. The department also maintains two reserve engines, one reserve ladder, and two reserve rescues. The department has an ISO rating of 3 in the areas of town with hydrants, and an 8 in the non hydrant areas.
The Laurenville Fire Department is combination department consisting of 188 personnel. Of those, 49 are full time, 7 are part time, and 132 are paid on call. The 49 full timers consist of a command staff of 7. They include 1 fire chief, 1 deputy fire chief, 1 fire marshal, 1 EMS director, 1 mechanic, 1 district tax collector, and 1 district secretary. They work Monday thru Friday 8 am to 4 pm.
The full time line staff includes 2 fire captains, 2 fire lieutenants, 4 rescue lieutenants, 12 firefighter/ARFF firefighters, 16 EMT/Firefighters, and 6 dispatchers. The fire captains, lieutenants, and FF/ARFF’s work out of station 6, cross-manning Engine 6, Engine 8, and Tanker 1. The senior captain is designated the station captain. The junior captain is in charge of E6. The senior lieutenant is in charge of E8, and the junior lieutenant is in charge of T1. They are all certified a minimum EMT-Basic. The EMT/Firefighters are certified as EMT-Cardiac’s or EMT-Paramedics, and work out of stations 2, 3, 5, and 7. Each of these stations is assigned four EMT/Firefighters. All of these personnel work on one of four shifts (A, B, C, D) on a 24 hr schedule. This schedule is 24 hrs on duty, 24 hrs off duty, 24 hrs on, followed by 5 days off. The rescue lieutenants are certified at the EMT/Cardiac or Paramedic level. They work Monday thru Friday 8 am to 4 pm. One each is assigned to R1, R2, R3, and R4. The eight dispatchers also work on the 24 hr schedule. They are split up two dispatchers for each of the four shifts. The part time personnel include a part time mechanic and four part time dispatchers that work various hours according to need.
The 132 paid-on-call firefighters are broken down as follows: 4 battalion chiefs, 6 fire captains, 14 fire lieutenants, and 108 firefighters. Each of these personnel is compensated based on the amount of calls each one makes. They are assigned to a station that is the close to where they live. The battalion chiefs report to both the fire chief and deputy chief. A station captain is assigned to stations 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7. The lieutenants are assigned to E1, E2, E3, E4, E5, E7, L1, L2, L3, SH1, F1, F2, F3, and Reserves. The 108 firefighters are assigned as follows: Station 1 – 17, Station 2 – 22, Station 3 – 16, Station 4 – 15, Station 5 – 12, Station 6 – 10, Station 7 – 16. Three of these firefighters are Assistant Engineers, helping out the Chief Engineer (mechanic) with maintenance issues.
The Laurenville fire chief oversees the entire fire department. The deputy chief is the departments’ training director and fire prevention officer. The fire marshal is in charge of all plan reviews and inspections, and any fire engineering to comes before the department. The fire marshal has the rank of fire captain. The EMS director is in charge of the EMS division of the department and has the rank of captain. The full time mechanic is also the driver training officer. He is in charge of the qualified driver list for each apparatus. He has the title of Chief Engineer. The tax collector bills and collects taxes from the district residents, and pays district bills when needed. The tax collector also works with the fire chief on creating the budget for each fiscal year. The district secretary works with the tax collector on district business and also works with the fire chief when needed. Both the tax collector and secretary are civilian positions.
Each night there is a paid-on-call duty chief on duty from 1800hrs until 0600hrs each night. The battalion chiefs and fire captains are the duty chiefs. Each battalion chief must work a minimum of two nights per month, and the captains must work at least one night per month. The duty chief responds in either Battalion 1 or Battalion 2 command vehicle. They have the option of sleeping at that vehicles respective station or bring the command vehicle home and responding from there. The duty chief responds to any incident over 2 engines, 1 ladder, 1 rescue, and has the option of responding to any other incident. Each station captain is also an assistant training officer. The lieutenants maintain there respective apparatus, and report to their respective station captain.
RESPONSE GUIDE
Structure Fire: 1st Alarm: 3 engines, 2 ladders, Special Hazards 1, 1 rescue, 1 battalion chief,
each additional alarm: 2 engines, 1 ladder, 1 rescue
Box Alarm: 2 engines, 1 ladder, 1 rescue, 1 battalion chief
Motor Vehicle Accident: 1 rescue, 1 engine, Special Hazards 1 as needed
Brush Fire: 2 forestry, Tanker 1, 2 engines, 1 rescue, 1 battalion chief
HazMat: Special Hazards 1, 1 engine, 1 rescue, 1 battalion chief, Engines 3 and 6 as needed
Vehicle Fire: 2 engines, 1 special hazard
CO Alarm: 1 engine, 1 ladder, 1 rescue, 1 battalion chief
Medical Call: 1 rescue, 1 engine
Water rescue: 2 rescues, 1 engine, 2 boats, Special Hazards 1
Airport Incident: Engine 8, Engine 6, Tanker 1, Special Hazards 1, 1 ladder, 1 rescue, 1 additional engine, 1 battalion chief
Specialized Rescue: Special Hazards 1, 2 engines, 1 ladder, 2 rescues, 1 battalion chief