Capital City Fire/Rescue

Capital City Fire/Rescue (CCFR)
"Readiness, dedication, service"
Operational area
Country  United States
State  Alaska
City Juneau
Agency overview
Fire chief Richard Etheridge
Website
www.juneau.org/ccfr/

Capital City Fire/Rescue (CCFR) provides fire suppression and emergency medical services to the city of Juneau, Alaska, United States.

With service to Juneau, CCFR provides emergency services to the second most populous city in Alaska after Anchorage,[1] and the fourth largest metropolitan area behind Anchorage, the Fairbanks North Star Borough, and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.

Areas served by CCFR include Douglas Island, Lemon Creek, the Mendenhall Valley, Juneau International Airport, Thane, University of Alaska Southeast and local areas of the Tongass National Forest.[2]

History

Medic 1, an ambulance and paramedic unit operated by Capital City Fire/Rescue, in downtown Juneau on 18 April 2015
CCFR fights a fire in the abandoned Gastineau Apartments (left) on March 21, 2015

Juneau's fire department was founded in 1899, as the Juneau Volunteer Fire Department. The first alarm system consisted of a bell installed on the boardwalk, adjacent to the downtown ship docks. Upgrades to the alarm system began in 1915, and the methods of notifying fire fighters who are off duty that they are needed became more high tech over the years. As of 2016, all CCFR fire fighters are issued both a pager and a dispatching application for smartphones.[3]

In 2006, the City and Borough of Juneau purchased a mobile dispatch center, with a grant from the Department of Homeland Security. The mobile command center is equipped to provide multiple agencies access to dispatch, while providing office space for emergency personnel who are in command at the site of a major incident.[4]

Current Day

As of 2016, Capital City Fire and Rescue is made up of 33 paid and 70 volunteer firefighters and Emergency Medical Technicians, as well as 9 administrative support staff, serving over 31,000 residents in the city and borough of Juneau. Paid, professional firefighter/paramedics work out of Downtown and Glacier/Juneau International Airport stations offering fire/rescue, Advanced Life Support-staffed ambulance service, and aircraft crash rescue and firefighting services. Volunteer members, including those enrolled in the department's "live-in" program, respond to calls out of the Douglas Island, Auke Bay and Lynn Canal stations. The department also offers "Special Teams" which include rope and technical rescue and water/ice rescue teams.

Adding to the challenges faced by the emergency system in the land-locked city of Juneau are the influx of upwards of 18,000 additional people a day from cruise ship and tourist traffic during the summer months. May through September, CCFR hires four firefighter/EMT’s to staff an additional Basic Life Support ambulance in a seasonal hire program to facilitate medical transports from the cruise ships, Bartlett Regional Hospital and air ambulance services. During this five-month period the extra ambulance will handle approximately 500 calls for service. This program frees up the Advanced Life Support ambulances to continue to respond to emergencies that require the higher level of care. This has reduced the number of times that all in-service ambulances were unavailable due to the call load and reduced response times across the city and borough.

A 2012 survey shows that in that year, Capital City Fire and Rescue responded to 3,677 total calls for service, broken down to 103 fire responses, 2,679 EMS responses, 289 fire alarm calls and 606 "other."

Notable incidents

On 15 August 2004, Capital City Fire/Rescue responded to a fire in the Skinner Building, on Front Street in downtown Juneau. The 108-year-old structure contained 18 businesses, and fire fighters eventually evacuated over 1,000 people from the area. As the fire intensified, it spread to another building next door. The Skinner Building was destroyed, and total damages were in excess of one million dollars.[5]

On 5 November 2012, the 4-story Gastineau Apartments on Franklin Street in downtown Juneau caught fire. Every available member of Capital City Fire/Rescue responded to the blaze, which continued to burn throughout the night. The building was evacuated by CCFR and members of the Juneau Police Department. The building was a total loss.[6] During the fire fighting effort, power was shut off to downtown Juneau, and members of the Alaska Army National Guard were deployed to keep people out of the evacuated area.[7] Extra fire fighters were brought in from Sitka on a Coast Guard helicopter, and even a member of the Anchorage Fire Department, who was visiting Juneau at the time, was also pressed into service.[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Juneau City and Borough QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau". census.gov. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  2. ↑ "Capital City Fire/Rescue "READINESS, DEDICATION, SERVICE"". City and Borough of Juneau. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  3. ↑ Brevik, Gaylen. "History of CCFR". Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  4. ↑ "City receives mobile dispatch center". Juneau Empire. 20 November 2006. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  5. ↑ "On The Job: Alaska - Multiple Challenges for Juneau Crews at Fire Involving Century-Old Structure". Firehouse.com. 1 August 2005. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  6. ↑ "Coast Guardsman saves lives on and off duty in Alaska". United States Coast Guard. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  7. ↑ "Fire consumes downtown Gastineau Apartments". Juneau Empire. 5 November 2012. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  8. ↑ "Cause of fire still under investigation". Juneau Empire. 6 November 2012. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
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