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 ...
and
emergency medical services
Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to definitive care. ...
Centennial
{{other uses, Centennial (disambiguation), Centenary (disambiguation)
A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century, a period of 100 years.
Notable events
Notable centennial events at a ...
,
Cherry Hills Village
The City of Cherry Hills Village is a home rule municipality located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 6,442 at the 2020 United States Census. Cherry Hills Village is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, C ...
Parker Parker may refer to:
Persons
* Parker (given name)
* Parker (surname)
Places Place names in the United States
*Parker, Arizona
*Parker, Colorado
* Parker, Florida
* Parker, Idaho
* Parker, Kansas
* Parker, Missouri
* Parker, North Carolina
*Park ...
, portions of
Aurora
An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...
Arapahoe
The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota.
By the 1850s, Arapaho band ...
,
Douglas
Douglas may refer to:
People
* Douglas (given name)
* Douglas (surname)
Animals
*Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking
*Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil W ...
, and
Jefferson Jefferson may refer to:
Names
* Jefferson (surname)
* Jefferson (given name)
People
* Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), third president of the United States
* Jefferson (footballer, born 1970), full name Jefferson Tomaz de Souza, Brazilian foo ...
counties in
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
. The area South Metro serves is in size with a population of more than 540,000.
South Metro Fire Rescue is an internationally accredited agency with the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI) and holds an
Insurance Services Office
Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO), a subsidiary of Verisk Analytics, is a provider of statistical, actuarial, underwriting, and claims information and analytics; compliance and fraud identification tools; policy language; information abo ...
aircraft rescue and firefighting
Aircraft rescue and firefighting (ARFF) is a type of firefighting that involves the emergency response, mitigation, evacuation, and rescue of passengers and crew of aircraft involved in aviation accidents and incidents.
Airports with schedule ...
dive rescue
Beaching a casualty while providing artificial respiration
Diver rescue, following an accident, is the process of avoiding or limiting further exposure to diving hazards and bringing a diver to a place of safety. A safe place is often a place ...
,
hazardous materials
Dangerous goods, abbreviated DG, are substances that when transported are a risk to health, safety, property or the environment. Certain dangerous goods that pose risks even when not being transported are known as hazardous materials ( syllabi ...
,
incident management team
{{No footnotes, date=September 2020
Incident management team (IMT) is a term used in the United States of America to refer to a group of trained personnel that responds to an emergency. Although the incident management team concept was originally ...
technical rescue
Technical rescue is the use of specialised tools and skills for rescue, including vehicle extrication, confined space rescue, rope rescue, trench rescue, structural collapse rescue, water rescue, and wilderness search and rescue. These often requi ...
,
urban search and rescue
Urban search and rescue (abbreviated as USAR or US&R) is a type of technical rescue operation that involves the location, extrication, and initial medical stabilization of victims trapped in an urban area, namely structural collapse due to natu ...
, and wildland firefighting.
The district is a product of decades of consolidation between area fire departments since the 1980s including Castle Pines Fire Department, Castlewood Fire Protection District, Cherry Hills Fire Protection District, Cunningham Fire Protection District, Littleton Fire Rescue, Louviers Fire Protection District, North Douglas County Fire Protection District, and Parker Fire Protection District.
History
The origins of the South Metro Fire Rescue name comes from Castlewood Fire Protection District which had petitioned to change its name to South Metro Fire Rescue on December 31, 1998. Prior to South Metro Fire Rescue, Castlewood Fire Protection District began the trend of consolidating with neighboring departments with Castle Pines Fire Department and North Douglas County Fire Protection District in 1986, and Cherry Hills Fire Protection District in 1989.
In 1999, Robert Rinne assumed the fire chief position, and Louviers Fire Protection District agreed to merge with South Metro Fire Rescue effective January 1, 2000.
On January 19, 2006, South Metro Fire Rescue established the Metropolitan Area Communications Center (MetCom) to provide dispatching service for the district. In March 2006, the district achieved international accreditation from the CFAI, a distinction held by only three other agencies in the state at the time.
In April 2007, a report was provided to the district by Emergency Services Consulting Inc. noting a consistent lack of trust between personnel and the fire chief's office and suggested a change in leadership. An example cited by the report included questioning financial decisions made in purchasing four firetrucks whereas the apparatus committee suggested only purchasing one. By June, four members of South Metro Fire Rescue's leadership, including Chief Robert Rinne, had stepped down and Fire Marshall Mike Dell'Orfano assumed the position of acting chief. In October 2007, Parker Fire Protection District Chief Dan Qualman assumed the role of interim chief of South Metro Fire Rescue as a study began on consolidating operations with Parker Fire Protection District. The study was completed in March 2008 and found that a consolidation of departments would result in tax savings and better services. The two districts voted to consolidate on April 24, 2008 and began working together on May 1, 2008 as a single authority governed by the two boards of directors, the largest merger between two entities in Colorado at the time. On January 5, 2016, Parker Fire Protection District and South Metro Fire Rescue merged into a single district.
In January 2015, Chief Dan Qualman retired and Bob Baker assumed the position of fire chief for the district.
In November 2017, South Metro Fire Rescue and Cunningham Fire Protection District agreed to form a new joint fire authority to join the two districts together effective January 1, 2018. On January 1, 2019, South Metro's authority was expanded to include areas of the Highlands Ranch Metropolitan District, Littleton Fire Protection District, and City of Littleton that were previously covered by Littleton Fire Rescue, a department with history that dates back to 1890. As a result of the expansion, South Metro became the second largest fire district in
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
. The authority was dissolved in May 2020 after
redistricting
Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral dist ...
of the board of directors and subsequent election allowed for voter representation from the newly added areas.
On January 1, 2018, South Metro received an ISO Class 1 rating after previously holding a Class 3 rating, and is notable for being the first agency in the United States to achieve a Class 1 rating in areas without a
fire hydrant
A fire hydrant, waterplug, or firecock (archaic) is a connection point by which firefighters can tap into a water supply. It is a component of active fire protection. Underground fire hydrants have been used in Europe and Asia since at least ...
that would require
water tenders
A water tender is a type of firefighting apparatus that specialises in the transport of water from a water source to a fire scene.
Stations and apparatus
Notable incidents
* On May 7, 2019, the
STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting
On May 7, 2019, a school shooting occurred at STEM School Highlands Ranch, a charter school located in Douglas County, Colorado, United States, in the Denver suburb of Highlands Ranch. One student was killed and eight others were injured. Two ...
occurred which resulted in one death and eight injuries. The initial response by South Metro Fire Rescue was upgraded to a large
mass casualty incident
A mass casualty incident (often shortened to MCI) describes an incident in which emergency medical services resources, such as personnel and equipment, are overwhelmed by the number and severity of casualties. For example, an incident where a ...
based on information received and included mutual aid from neighboring agencies and three medical helicopters. The agency notes that over 150 support personnel, ambulances, and fire apparatus responded to the incident.