The Seattle Fire Department 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

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, United States. The department is responsible for an area of , including of waterfront, with a population of 713,700. There is a total of 1,065 employees with 981 uniformed personnel and 84 civilian employees.

History

Seattle Volunteer Fire Co engine Number 1 in 1883 at Seattle engine house on Columbia St (CURTIS 48)

The Seattle Fire Department got its start 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 t ...

that was taken over by the City of Seattle on April 11, 1884. On June 6, 1889, the

Great Seattle Fire The Great Seattle Fire was a fire that destroyed the entire central business district of Seattle, Washington on June 6, 1889. The conflagration lasted for less than a day, burning through the afternoon and into the night, and during the same sum ...

broke out and destroyed over of the city. Insurance investigators charged the city with not having adequately trained firefighters to provide protection for the residents. As a result, the Seattle Fire Department was officially established on October 17, 1889, as a paid professional department.

Fire stations and apparatus

Seattle Fire Department - Battalion 6 command vehicle

the department operates out of 34

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 h ...

s spread across the city. due to mold, Station 31 is permanently closed.

Apparatus types and callsigns

* Engine (E) * Ladder (L) * Aid - Basic Life Support (A) * Air Unit (AIR10 / AIR26) * Battalion Chief (B) * Chaplain units (CHAP3, CHAP4, CHAP5, CHAP7) * Command, Control & Communication Unit (COM1) * Decontamination Unit (DECON1) * Deputy Chiefs (DEP1) * EMS/Paramedic Supervisor (M44 / M45) * Fire Boat (FB1, FB2, FB3, FB4) * Fire Chief (234) * Assistant Chief of Operations (89) * Fire Investigation Unit (FIU) / Fire Marshall (MAR5) * Fire Rescue Boat (RB5) * Hazardous Materials Unit (HAZ1) * Hose / Foam Wagon (HOSE18 / HOSE34) * Marine Unit (MRN1) * Medic - Advanced life support (M) * Medical Ambulance Bus (MAB1) * Metropolitan Medical Strike Team (MMST) * Mobile Air Compressor (AIR240 / AIR260 / AIR10) * Mobile Ventilation Unit (MVU1) * Mass Casualty Incident Unit (MCI1 / MCI2) * Power/ Unit (P25) * Public Information Officer (PIO) * Reserve Aid - BLS Apparatus (All "80 Series" Designations) (A84) * Reserve Battalion Chiefs (B22, B33, B44, B55, B66, B77) * Reserve Engine Apparatus (All "80 Series" Designations) (E85) * Reserve Ladder Apparatus (All "80 Series" Designations) (L84) * Reserve Medic - ALS Apparatus (All "80 Series" Designations) (M80, M5) * Reserve Heavy Rescue Apparatus (All "80 Series" Designations) (R80) * Seattle Police Harbor Patrol Boat (Responds with Seattle Fire Department for most marine incidents) (PTRL4) * Squad & Wildland Unit (SQ40) * Staff & Incident Command System (ICS) Support Unit (STAF10) * Safety Chief (SAFT2) * Technical Rescue Unit (R1) * Rehabilitation (REHAB1)

Notable incidents

Great Seattle Fire

On June 6, 1889, the

broke out in a cabinet shop located at the corner of 1st Avenue and Madison Street. The flames spread rapidly and the small volunteer department was unable to slow the fire with the town's small water systems. By the time the fire was extinguished, of homes and businesses had been destroyed.

Pang warehouse fire

On January 5, 1995, the Mary Pang's Food Products warehouse burned in the International District. Four firefighters died when the floor of the warehouse collapsed. It was later determined that the fire was set by Martin Pang, the son of the owner. Seattle's Fallen Firefighters Memorial was built to remember the four who perished.

In popular culture

*In the 1965 film, ''

The Slender Thread ''The Slender Thread'' is a 1965 American drama film starring Anne Bancroft and Sidney Poitier. It was the first feature-length film directed by future Oscar-winning director, producer and actor Sydney Pollack. Poitier portrays Alan, a college s ...

'', starring

Sidney Poitier Sidney Poitier ( ; February 20, 1927 – January 6, 2022) was an American actor, film director, and diplomat. In 1964, he was the first black actor and first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. He received two competitive ...

and

Anne Bancroft Anne Bancroft (born Anna Maria Louisa Italiano; September 17, 1931 – June 6, 2005) was an American actress. Respected for her acting prowess and versatility, Bancroft received an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, tw ...

, the Seattle Fire Department dispatch center, as well as the interior of Fire Station # 2 are shown and Aid Unit 2 is seen responding to a report of a suicide attempt. *In 1979, in the ''

Emergency! ''Emergency!'' is an American action-adventure medical drama television series jointly produced by Mark VII Limited and Universal Television. Debuting on NBC as a midseason replacement on January 15, 1972, replacing the two short-lived situatio ...

'' TV series' movie-of-the-week "Most Deadly Passage", the main characters visit Seattle for a ride-along with Medic One. *In 1985, the department released a cartoon film on fire safety, named '' The House on the Hill''. *The 2018 ABC television series ''

Station 19 ''Station 19'' is an American action-drama television series created by Stacy McKee for ABC that premiered on March 22, 2018. It is the second spin-off of ''Grey's Anatomy'' (after ''Private Practice''). Set in Seattle, the series focuses on th ...

'', another spinoff of the Seattle-set medical drama ''

Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series that premiered on March 27, 2005, on ABC as a mid-season replacement. The series focuses on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they develop into se ...

'', is set in the department and is the first ever TV series to feature it. *In G.I. Joe, the Lifeline character is a paramedic with the SFD.

References

External links

Third Rail
newspaper of Seattle Fire Fighter's Union Local 27, from

the Labor Press Project The Labor Press Project: Pacific Northwest Labor and Radical Newspapers is a multimedia website housing thousands of digitized articles and editions from the late 19th century to the present. Newspapers and newsletters from unions, early sociali ...

{{Coord, 47, 36, 00, N, 122, 19, 55, W, format=dms, display=title, type:landmark_region:US-WA Fire departments in Washington (state)

Fire Department A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...

1884 establishments in Washington Territory