Fire Brigade Service Act

[Courtland Boland]

TheDepartment of Fire Services helps keep communities safe. We provide firefighter training, public education, fire prevention, code enforcement, licensing, fire investigation, hazardous material response, and emergency response.

The Department of Fire Services provides the fire service, regulated industries, and individuals with training, education, prevention, investigation, and emergency response services. This work includes training firefighters, hazardous material response, fire investigation, public education in fire and life safety, and incident support.

Fire departments are most commonly a public sector organization that operate within a municipality, county, state, nation, or special district. Private and specialist firefighting organizations also exist, such as those for aircraft rescue and firefighting.[1]

A fire department contains one or more fire stations within its boundaries, and may be staffed by firefighters, who may be professional, volunteers, conscripts, or on-call. Combination fire departments employ a mix of professional and volunteer firefighters.[2] In some countries, fire departments may also run an ambulance service, staffed by volunteer or professional EMS personnel.

A fire service is normally set up where it can have fire stations, fire engines and other relevant equipment strategically deployed throughout the area it serves, so that dispatchers can send fire engines, fire trucks, or ambulances from the fire stations closest to the incident. Larger departments have branches within themselves to increase efficiency, composed of volunteers, support, and research.

Most places are covered by a public sector fire department, which is established by a local or national government and funded by taxation. Even volunteer fire departments may still receive some government funding.

The typical size of a fire department varies greatly by country. In the United States, firefighting is usually organized on a municipal level. Some municipalities belong to "fire protection districts" that are served by the same fire department, such as the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District. Austria, Germany and Canada also organize fire services at a municipal level. In France, fire services mostly cover one department. In the United Kingdom, most fire services cover one or more counties, while Scotland and Northern Ireland each have a single fire service. In Australia, state governments run the fire services, although three states have separate agencies for metropolitan and rural areas. Poland, the Czech Republic, Israel, Italy, New Zealand, and the Philippines have national fire and rescue services.

In some countries or regions (e.g., the United States, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Macau), fire departments can be responsible for providing emergency medical services. The EMS personnel may either be cross-trained as firefighters or a separate division of emergency medical technicians and paramedics. While some services act only as "first responders" to medical emergencies, stabilizing victims until an ambulance can arrive, other fire services also operate ambulance services.

The earliest known firefighting service was formed in Ancient Rome by Marcus Egnatius Rufus who used his slaves to provide a free fire service.[3] These men fought fires using bucket chains and also patrolled the streets with the authority to impose corporal punishment upon those who violated fire-prevention codes. The Emperor Augustus established a public fire department in 24 BCE, composed of 600 slaves distributed amongst seven fire stations in Rome.[4]

Fire departments were again formed by property insurance companies beginning in the 17th century after the Great Fire of London in 1666. The first insurance brigades were established the following year.[5] Others began to realize that a lot of money could be made from this practice, and ten more insurance companies set up in London before 1832: The Alliance, Atlas, Globe, Imperial, London, Protector, Royal Exchange, Sun Union and Westminster.[6] Each company had its own fire mark, a durable plaque that would be affixed to the building exterior. Although a popular legend says a company's fire brigade would not extinguish a burning building if it did not have the correct fire mark, there is little evidence to support this; evidence shows insurance companies required their firefighters to fight every fire they encountered.[7]

Fire insurance made its debut in the American colonies in South Carolina in 1736, but it was Benjamin Franklin who imported the London model of insurance. He established the colonies' first fire insurance company in Philadelphia named the Philadelphia Contributionship,[5] as well as its associated Union Volunteer Fire Company, which was an unpaid (volunteer) company.[12]

In the 19th century, cities began to form their own fire departments as a civil service to the public, obliging private fire companies to shut down, many merging their fire stations into the city's fire department. In 1833, London's ten independent brigades all merged to form the London Fire Engine Establishment (LFEE), with James Braidwood as the Chief Officer.[17] Braidwood had previously been the fire chief in Edinburgh, where the world's first municipal fire service was founded in 1824, and he is now regarded, along with Van der Heyden, as one of founders of modern firefighting.[8] The LFEE then was incorporated into the city's Metropolitan Fire Brigade in 1865 under Eyre Massey Shaw.

We are one of the largest fire and rescue services in the country, serving the county of Essex which has a wide variety of risks, covering an area of 1,400 square miles and a population of 1.8 million.

Residents in Harlow are being supported after Essex County Fire and Rescue Service took the difficult decision to serve a prohibition notice on Joseph Rank House in Harlow town centre following significant fire safety concerns.

Los Angeles County Fire Department lifeguards have a long-standing tradition of being one of the top ocean lifeguarding agencies in the world. Learn the steps of how to become a Los Angeles County lifeguard.

DEPUTY FIRE CHIEF CENTRAL REGIONAL OPERATIONS BUREAURobert HarrisDeputy Fire Chief Robert Harris started his career at the age of 19 after he was appointed reserve firefighter with the City of Montebello Fire Department.

Chief Harris began his service with the County of Los Angeles Fire Department on May 8, 1992. During his tenure with the Department, he has promoted through the ranks from Firefighter, Fire Fighter Paramedic, Fire Inspector, Fire Fighter Specialist, Fire Captain, Battalion Chief, Assistant Fire Chief, Acting Deputy Fire Chief, and Deputy Fire Chief, Central Regional Operations Bureau, effective June 1, 2024.

Over the years, Chief Harris has attended Dillard University (New Orleans), the University of Southern California, Long Beach Community College, and Compton Community College. Chief Harris is a graduate of Columbia Southern University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Fire Administration.

Fire ChiefAnthony C. MarroneFire Chief Anthony C. Marrone has been a member of the County of Los Angeles Fire Department for 38 years and a chief officer for the past 26 years. Prior to his appointment by the County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors as the tenth Fire Chief and Forester and Fire Warden, Chief Marrone served as the Interim Fire Chief.

ACTING DEPUTY FIRE CHIEF CENTRAL REGIONAL OPERATIONS BUREAUWilliam L. MayfieldDeputy Fire Chief William L. Mayfield Jr. is a 35-year veteran of the County of Los Angeles Fire Department (LACoFD). He began his fire service career in 1988. He has held the ranks of firefighter, firefighter specialist, fire captain, battalion chief, assistant fire chief, and deputy fire chief.

Chief Mayfield currently manages the Training and Emergency Medical Services Bureau. Emergency medical services is responsible for paramedic training, certification, equipment, quality improvement, and legal aspects for all basic and advanced emergency medical services provided by the LACoFD. Training Services is responsible for training all new firefighters and conducting ongoing in-service training sessions for all members. Training Services develops training materials, organizes classes and training programs for recruits and refresher courses for other Department personnel.

ACTING DEPUTY FIRE CHIEF SPECIAL SERVICES BUREAUMichael R InmanDeputy Fire Chief Mike Inman has worked as a fire service professional for over 40 years. Chief Inman started his career in 1983, as a reserve firefighter with the Monterey Park Fire Department. In 1986, he was hired as a firefighter with the County of Los Angeles Fire Department (LACoFD) and has promoted through the ranks as a firefighter paramedic, firefighter specialist, fire captain, battalion chief, and assistant fire chief.

In November 2023, Chief Inman was assigned to the East Regional Operations Bureau and was officially promoted to deputy fire chief on March 1, 2024. In this role, he led and managed four divisions with 1,400 personnel, 10 battalions, and 76 fire stations serving 34 cities.

Well versed in emergency management, Chief Inman became a pioneer in the urban search and rescue program that included several national deployments. For over 23 years, he has held various incident command system positions as part of the United States Forest Service Type 2 Incident Management Team (IMT) and served as the operations section chief and operations branch director with the Cal Fire Type 1 IMT. Since 1998, Chief Inman has served in various capacities on the LACoFD Incident Management Teams.

Chief Inman is a certified California State Fire Marshal Chief Officer, and a graduate of the Executive Leadership Development Program and Public Safety Leadership Program at the University of Southern California, Sol Price School of Public Policy. He teaches FEMA and California Incident Command Certification System (CICCS) courses and is a qualified incident commander, operations section chief, safety officer, and division supervisor.

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