The Oakland Fire Department (OFD) 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 ...

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. ...

to the city of Oakland,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. The department is responsible for with a population of 406,253.

History

The Oakland Fire Department was initially started in the 1860s as a

volunteer fire department A volunteer fire department (VFD) is a fire department of volunteers who perform fire suppression and other related emergency services for a local jurisdiction. Volunteer and retained (on-call) firefighters are expected to be on call to respond ...

and was officially formed on March 13, 1869, when its first

fire station __NOTOC__ A fire station (also called a fire house, fire hall, firemen's hall, or engine house) is a structure or other area for storing firefighting apparatuses such as fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective equipment, fire ...

was built. In 1908 the department bought their first motorized

fire engine A fire engine (also known in some places as a fire truck or fire lorry) is a road vehicle (usually a truck) that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to an ...

and in the 1920s, the department became one of the first in the nation to hire African American firefighters. In 1991, the OFD was faced with a major

conflagration A conflagration is a large fire. Conflagrations often damage human life, animal life, health, and/or property. A conflagration can begin accidentally, be naturally caused (wildfire), or intentionally created (arson). A very large fire can produc ...

that killed 25 people and injured 150 others. The

Oakland firestorm of 1991 : The Oakland firestorm of 1991 was a large suburban wildland–urban interface conflagration that occurred on the hillsides of northern Oakland, California, and southeastern Berkeley over the weekend of October 19–20, 1991, before being b ...

burned in the Berkeley and Oakland Hills, destroying 3,354 single-family dwellings and 437 apartment and condominium units. The economic loss was estimated at $1.5 billion.

USAR Task Force 4

The Oakland Fire Department is the sponsoring agency of Urban Search and Rescue California Task Force 4 (CA-TF4), one of eight FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces in the state of

and 28 nationally. The task forces, which is made up of personnel from 15 different agencies in the Bay Area, provides resources to locate, extricate, and provide immediate medical treatment to victims trapped in collapsed structures as well as other life saving operations.

Stations and apparatus

Below is a complete listing of all OFD Fire Station and Fire Company locations according to Division and Battalion.

Rank structure

# Firefighter/Paramedic # Engineer # Lieutenant # Captain # Battalion Chief # Assistant Chief # Deputy Chief # Fire Chief

References

External links

*
Map of Oakland fire stations
{{Authority control Fire departments in California Ambulance services in the United States

Fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames a ...

1869 establishments in California Government agencies established in 1869 Medical and health organizations based in California