Seattle_Fire_Department

Seattle Fire Department

Seattle Fire Department

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The Seattle Fire Department provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the city of Seattle, Washington, United States. The department is responsible for an area of 142.5 square miles (369 km2), including 193 miles (311 km) of waterfront, with a population of 713,700. There is a total of 1,065 employees with 981 uniformed personnel and 84 civilian employees.[2]

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History

Seattle Volunteer Fire Company Engine Number 1 in 1883 at the engine house on Columbia Street in a Theodore Peiser photograph

The Seattle Fire Department got its start as a volunteer fire department that was taken over by the City of Seattle on April 11, 1884.[5] On June 6, 1889, the Great Seattle Fire broke out and destroyed over 64 acres (26 ha) of the city. Insurance investigators charged the city with not having adequately trained firefighters to provide protection for the residents.[5] As a result, the Seattle Fire Department was officially established on October 17, 1889, as a paid professional department.

Fire stations and apparatus

Seattle firefighters put out a cargo container fire in the Port of Seattle.
Seattle Fire Department Engine 25
Seattle Fire Department Ladder 6
Seattle Fire Department Medic 80
Seattle Fire Department Battalion 6

As of April 2021 the department operates out of 34 fire stations spread across the city.[6]

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Apparatus types and callsigns

  • Engine (E)
  • Ladder (L)
  • Aid - Basic Life Support (A)
  • Air Unit (AIR10 / AIR26)
  • Battalion Chief (B)
  • Chaplain units (CHAP3, CHAP4, CHAP5, CHAP7)
  • Command, Control & Communication Unit (COM1)
  • Decontamination Unit (DECON1)
  • Deputy Chiefs (DEP1)
  • EMS/Paramedic Supervisor (M44 / M45)
  • Fire Boat (FB1, FB2, FB3, FB4)
  • Fire Chief (234)
  • Assistant Chief of Operations (89)
  • Fire Investigation Unit (FIU) / Fire Marshall (MAR5)
  • Fire Rescue Boat (RB5)
  • Hazardous Materials Unit (HAZ1)
  • Hose / Foam Wagon (HOSE18 / HOSE34)
  • Marine Unit (MRN1)
  • Medic - Advanced life support (M)
  • Medical Ambulance Bus (MAB1)
  • Metropolitan Medical Strike Team (MMST)
  • Mobile Air Compressor (AIR240 / AIR260 / AIR10)
  • Mobile Ventilation Unit (MVU1)
  • Mass Casualty Incident Unit (MCI1 / MCI2)
  • Power/CO2 Unit (P25)
  • Public Information Officer (PIO)
  • Reserve Aid - BLS Apparatus (All "80 Series" Designations) (A84)
  • Reserve Battalion Chiefs (B22, B33, B44, B55, B66, B77)
  • Reserve Engine Apparatus (All "80 Series" Designations) (E85)
  • Reserve Ladder Apparatus (All "80 Series" Designations) (L84)
  • Reserve Medic - ALS Apparatus (All "80 Series" Designations) (M80, M5)
  • Reserve Heavy Rescue Apparatus (All "80 Series" Designations) (R80)
  • Seattle Police Harbor Patrol Boat (Responds with Seattle Fire Department for most marine incidents) (PTRL4)
  • Squad & Wildland Unit (SQ40)
  • Staff & Incident Command System (ICS) Support Unit (STAF10)
  • Safety Chief (SAFT2)
  • Technical Rescue Unit (R1)
  • Rehabilitation (REHAB1)

Notable incidents

Great Seattle Fire

Main article: Great Seattle Fire

On June 6, 1889, the Great Seattle Fire broke out in a cabinet shop located at the corner of 1st Avenue and Madison Street.[5] The flames spread rapidly and the small volunteer department was unable to slow the fire with the town's small water systems. By the time the fire was extinguished, 64 acres (26 ha) of homes and businesses had been destroyed.[5]

Pang warehouse fire

On January 5, 1995, the Mary Pang's Food Products warehouse burned in the International District. Four firefighters died when the floor of the warehouse collapsed. It was later determined that the fire was set by Martin Pang, the son of the owner. Seattle's Fallen Firefighters Memorial was built to remember the four who perished.[7]

The House on the Hill (1985)
  • In the 1965 film, The Slender Thread, starring Sidney Poitier and Anne Bancroft, the Seattle Fire Department dispatch center, as well as the interior of Fire Station # 2 are shown and Aid Unit 2 is seen responding to a report of a suicide attempt.
  • In 1979, in the Emergency! TV series' movie-of-the-week "Most Deadly Passage", the main characters visit Seattle for a ride-along with Medic One.
  • In 1985, the department released a cartoon film on fire safety, named The House on the Hill.
  • The 2018 ABC television series Station 19, another spinoff of the Seattle-set medical drama Grey's Anatomy, is set in the department and is the first ever TV series to feature it.
  • In G.I. Joe, the Lifeline character is a paramedic with the SFD.

References

  1. [1]
    "Emergency Response Totals". Seattle Fire Department. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  2. [2]
    "Department Profile". Seattle Fire Department. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  3. [3]
    "Apparatus Showcase". Seattle Fire Department. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  4. [4]
    "Fire Stations - Fire". seattle.gov. Retrieved August 21, 2022.
  5. [5]
    Stein, Alan (September 2, 2002). "Seattle Fire Department is created on October 17, 1889". HistoryLink. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  6. [6]
    "Stations". Seattle Fire Department. Archived from the original on June 2, 2010. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  7. [7]
    Castro, Hector (January 4, 2005). "10 years ago, four perished in Pang warehouse blaze". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved November 9, 2022.

47°36′00″N 122°19′55″W
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