Page 91 - GFOA Draft 2

CITY OF SAGINAW

DEPARTMENT DESCRIPTION
2022-2023

FIRE

The Fire Department is responsible for a wide range of services that draw from the multi-faceted
training, skills and capabilities of its personnel to effectively and professionally perform fire
prevention, code application and enforcement, fire suppression, rescue, emergency medical
services, hazardous material mitigation, disaster planning coordination and emergency
management.

The Department is organized into three divisions, all under the direction of the Fire Chief: the Fire
Operations Division, the Fire Services Division and Emergency Management. The Fire Department
currently has a total of 30 employees and operates from two fire stations.

Fire Station #1 is located at 400 S. Saginaw Blvd. Shift operations of both stations are directly
overseen by a Battalion Chief who is assigned to operate from fire station #1. Station #1 is staffed
by a Fire Lieutenant, an Apparatus Operator and two firefighters as normal staffing. Adjacent to Fire
Station #1 is the Department’s administrative facility housing the offices of the Fire Chief, the
Assistant Fire Chief, the Fire Marshal, and the Emergency Management Coordinator. The
administrative facility also houses the Tarrant County Fire Alarm Center and the City's “Emergency
Operations Center” or EOC.

Fire Station #2 is located at 801 Basswood Blvd. and is staffed by a Fire Lieutenant, an Apparatus
Operator and one or two firefighters depending on the shift. All three shifts are not currently equally
staffed.

The Department aggressively participates in “Automatic Aid” with the Fort Worth and Lake Worth.
This essentially means that for structure fires and other major incidents, an automatic response to
the incident from participating departments takes place simultaneously consisting of pre-
determined apparatus and personnel.

The Fire Department also aggressively participates in "Mutual Aid" with Haslet, Blue Mound, Eagle
Mountain and other fire departments in the area to both provide and receive aid for incidents that
extend beyond normal response capabilities. A "mutual aid" response is typically initiated by request
on an incident by incident basis.

The Department is also contracted by the Tarrant County Emergency Services District to serve the
unincorporated areas outside our city limits.

The Department is responsible for providing the following emergency services and specialized
functions:

FIRE SUPPRESSION: Responsible for rapid response to any explosion, fire or fire-related emergency
for the purposes of rescue, control, extinguishment and mitigation.

EMERGENCY MEDICAL (FIRST RESPONDER): Responsible for immediate response to any medical
emergency or injury for evaluation, treatment and stabilization, providing both basic and advanced
life-support level care. 28 of 29 Saginaw firefighter personnel are certified as Emergency Medical
Technician -Paramedics.
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