Savannah Fire & Emergency Services (SFES) provides

fire protection Fire protection is the study and practice of mitigating the unwanted effects of potentially destructive fires. It involves the study of the behaviour, compartmentalisation, suppression and investigation of fire and its related emergencies, as we ...

to the city of

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...

, United States. The professional fire department is active 24/7 and 365 days a year, and has about 325 paid employees. They received an ISO Class 1 rating in November 2014, and CFAI accreditation in 2016.

History

Fire protection in Savannah was first organized in the British-administered

Province of Georgia A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outs ...

in 1759 with a volunteer force of firefighters. On March 11, 1825, the Savannah Fire Company was officially formed. On February 1, 1867, the Savannah Volunteer Fire Department was established, and on February 1, 1890, the Savannah Fire Department was established as a paid firefighting force of 47 men. In 1911, the Savannah Fire Department became the first fully motorized fire department in the United States. City officials announced the closure of the Downtown company in November 2018, due to budgetary reasons. Both Engine 16, and ''Marine One'' would be placed on a minimal maintenance schedule, with the 15 firefighters assigned to the station dispersed to other stations.

Organization

Savannah Fire and Emergency Services is divided into 6 divisions of operation: Operations, Training, Logistics, Special Operations, Investigations, and the Fire Marshal's Division. The Savannah fire department currently operates out of 15 fire stations located throughout the city; it is organized into 3 battalions, each commanded by one battalion chief each shift. The SFES operates a fire apparatus fleet of 15 engine companies, 5 ladder companies, 2 rescue companies, 4 hazardous materials (haz-mat.) units, 1 haz-mat./decontamination (decon.) trailer, 2 marine units (fireboat), 1 rehabilitation (rehab.) unit, 2 brush units, 1 Georgia Search and Rescue (GSAR) trailer, and numerous special, support, and reserve units.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Savannah Fire and Emergency Services Savannah, Georgia