Fire Dept. Services & Training
Services
The Willows Fire Department Operations Division is responsible for the emergency response activities for the City of Willows and surrounding communities.
Fire Operations
The Willows Fire Department Operations Division is responsible for the emergency response activities for the City of Willows and surrounding communities.
The Operations Division is made up of:
- 4 Uniformed personnel assigned to three alternating shifts
- 30 Volunteer firefighters
- 1 Fire stations
- Daily Operations consists of:
- Structural Firefighting
- Wild land Firefighting
- Emergency Medical Response
- Hazardous Materials
- Fire/Bomb Investigation team
Statistics
Emergency response is carried out from Willows Central Fire Station, which covers approx. 80 square miles and is responsable for protecting a population exceeding 10,000. WFD response area is made up of two districts, which run out of a single fire hall. One being the Willows Rural Protection district, which has a population of approx. 3,000, and covers approx. 78 sq miles. The other being the Willows City district, with a population of approx. 7,000 and approx. 2 sq miles.
In 2012, the department responded to approximately 802 calls for service. Response times average 4 minutes per call.
Calls range from many different situations which include:
- Fire
- Medical
- Rescue
- Public service
- Haz-mat
- Weather
Training
Each Willows Fire Department firefighters has a minimum of training hours that are required every month. These Training hours are completed with in-house drills that are held the first two Tuesdays or every month, and include:
- Extrication
- SCBA’s
- Medical
- Structure fires (rescue, arrival drills, forcible entry, ventilation, RIT, ladders, extinguishment)
- Vehicle Fires
- Vegetation (Structure protection, fire shelters, fire behavior, extinguishment)
- Rope and knots
- Water rescue
- Defensive driving
- Haz-mat
The minimum requirements are exceeded with numerous training classes, which can range from 4 hours up to 40 hours of training. Most of this training is completed during the week in the evenings, or on the weekend. With all of the new equipment, technology and changes in the world, the fire service must constantly adapt to these changes; and we do this through our training.