Staffing vs Area Covered

[WFD2122]

My department currently has 27 members (combination full and part-time). We serve a city and all or portions of 4 townships, total of 144 square miles! Population served is 15,865 (according to 1990 census). This equates to 1 firefighter for every 588 citizens.

I am interested in how other departments compare with this, and if anyone has information on whether there is a "standard" regarding this in any way. Immediate assistance would be greatly appreciated. I am preparing a Powerpoint presentation for the city, requesting equipment, manpower, etc. The more ammo (facts) I have, the better the presentation will be.

[bob1350]

Our combination dept. in northern Colorado has 37 carreer members and 63 active volunteer members. Our district is appox. 260 square miles. We currently have 5 stations manned full time with 2 paid. We respond to over 4000 calls a year. Intersate highway to wildland/interface. Population is approx. 60,000 city and rural along with a ton of traffic on the interstate. So, with us it is 1 ff to 600 citizens. Usually, the response times and manpower on scene are the big issue. So, how many stations do you have and what is your alarm level response? Also, how many calls are you running?

[Sand Creek Lynn]

All volunteer dept. 1 per 32 residents.
BUT this may be a little misleading. We have only 550 residents and 17 firefighters.

[CaptCraig]

We run a combo dept. with 3 stations, 90 FF's covering 56 sq. miles. The big thing we look at is our ISO rating which now is a 3 in the majority of our coverage area.

ISO is concerned with the type of property you are tasked with protecting and using formulas they calculate how many engines, ladder pieces, firefighters, communications systems and water resources are needed. This may be something you want to look into since you can aquaint it with the publics cost of home insurance. "If we do this it will save you x$$. Most of the time if you can show them how you can save them money you come off as the good guy who needs the help!

I don't know that comparing the number of firefighters to the number of residents is a valid guage. I read it in the forum that nobody calls the fire department when they've done something smart. Soooo not everyone requires your services. And what about the people who travel through or only work in your district.
Good Luck and let us know how everything turns out!!!!

[LHS']

We cover mere 5000 square miles and 30,000 people with 100 volunteers, with an ISO rating of CLass 1 and Class 3.

[benson911]

Good luck with your presentation.

We have 45 uniformed personnel and 27,000 citizens in 9 square miles.

That's 1 FF for every 600 people and that's not enough, because so many other factors come into play. # of calls, type of staffing (Full-time, Part-time,) EMS vs fire runs, transports vs. private ambulance transport, staffing per truck, high hazard areas, hazard types, HAZMAT, etc.

Let us know how your presentation goes.

[fireman116]

We are a combo department with 23 full-time, and 15 paid per call firefighters. We cover 11,500 in the city and an additional 4,000 in our rural district. We cover a total of 54 square miles out of 2 staffed stations. Majority of runs are medicals and car wrecks.
we have 1 firefighter for every 630 residents, not including the thousands of visitors in town every day! I think we have 1 cop for every 100 people, at least it seems that way :> Stay Safe

[pro_zaq]

All Volunteer Dept. 600 Square mile district. 10,000 people. 1ff per 200 residents.