The Ventura County Fire Department (VCFD) provides fire protection and emergency response services for the unincorporated areas of Ventura County, California, and for seven other cities within the county. Together, these areas compose the Ventura County Fire Protection District in the state of California, United States. The Ventura County Board of Supervisors is the fire district's board of directors. These five elected supervisors appoint the fire chief, and task him with providing fire protection services for the district.

In addition to the unincorporated areas of Ventura County, the department provides the following cities with service: Camarillo, Moorpark, Ojai, Port Hueneme, Santa Paula, Simi Valley, and Thousand Oaks.

History On May 11, 1928 the Ventura County Fire Protection District (VCFPD) was established. It wasn't for another two years that a 24-hour Fire Warden was placed on duty.

As the population of the county grew, the VCFD grew as well. In 1946 the department added radios to all of their trucks and rose to a total of 34 personnel. Nearly 33 years later in 1969, the department added a second radio frequency and added a full-time dispatch center at Station 31 in Thousand Oaks. Four years later in 1973, VCFD changed their engines from traditional Fire Engine Red to Yellow.

Apparatus

Engine and medic engine Ventura County uses two main types of engines. The first is the standard engine, also called a "triple-combination pumper" as it has a fire pump, water tank and fire hose. Each engine can deliver 1,500 GPM of water and carry 500 gallons of water. The engines also carry multiple ground ladders and different types of hose as well as various types of firefighting, rescue and medical equipment. The second type of engine is the Medic Engine, similar to a standard engine but with a fully trained Advanced Life Support (ALS) paramedic and additional equipment.

Medic rescue engine/rescue engine In the Ventura County Fire Department, a rescue engine is a 2-piece company that is assigned a standard engine and rescue truck. These units always respond together as a single company. The rescue truck carries all of the same equipment that a truck company carries, such as vehicle extrication tools, forcible entry tools and ventilation tools giving the rescue engine truck company capabilities without the aerial device of a truck company.

Ventura County Fire Department has 3 rescue engines, 1 rescue is paired with a BLS engine making the company a Rescue Engine (27) and 2 of the rescues are paired with Medic Engines to make them Medic Rescue Engines (23 & 31).

Each of the Rescue Engines / Medic Rescue Engines serve as the truck company / support company for their geographical region.

These companies are used instead of a large ladder truck with an aerial device because of the type of area they serve, either due to the terrain, making it difficult to operate a large truck company, or a lack of multi-story buildings making an aerial device unnecessary.

Water tenders Ventura county fire department has 2 water tenders currently in service, they are water tender 40 and water tender 27. These units are used on brush fires when there is no hydrants available for engines to refill there pumps. They are stationed at station 40 and 27. 27 is much newer than 40, with 40 being an old KME, and the most notable feature of 40 is that instead of being yellow, like most of the other units in the department, it is red.

Quints Ventura county fire department currently has one quint frontline and the one in reserve. What sets these units apart from other truck companies is that they have a pump and carry water. These quints are quints 44 and 144, and are stationed at station 44 in wood ranch. Quint 44 is the one in frontline and is a 2015 rosenbauer commander tractor drawn Quiller (quint+tiller), and the reserve one being quint 144, an American Lafrance rear mount quint, another fun fact is that code3customs made a diecast model of quint 144 when it was rescue engine 40. 144 also served as rescue engine 40, then got the paramedic designation and then was quint 44, and is now in reserve as quint 144. These units respond to calls as if they were and engine and a truck.

In addition to the main engines, Ventura County also has reserve engines which are older engines kept as backups or for use on major incidents. Two of the department reserve engines are provided by the Office of Emergency Services.

Wildland fire engines Ventura County has 11 Type 3 wildland fire engines for fighting bush fires; they are smaller and more mobile."

Helicopters

Ventura County has four Helicopters shared by the VCFD and the Ventura County Sheriff's Department. The fleet of helicopters is made up of four different Bell UH-1 Hueys, one each of the HH-1H, UH-1H, Bell 205B and Bell 212. Each Huey can carry up to nine firefighters, can fly up to 100 miles per hour, and has a 375-gallon water tank. In September 2019 Ventura County incorporated three UH-60 helicopters for firefighting use. The surplus helicopters, obtained from the U.S. Army, are referred to as Firehawks and have been modified for crew transport, patient transport, and to carry water-dropping belly tanks. They provide increased speed (160 miles per hour) and water carrying capacity (1,000 gallons) over the existing fleet. In addition to fire fighting missions, the Hueys and Firehawks are used for search and rescue, emergency medical services, marijuana eradication and surveillance.

Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting Units (ARFF) The Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting units, designed specifically for aircraft fires but used for other large-scale flammable liquid fires, can carry 1,500 gallons of water and are fitted with a pump capable of 1,250 GPM. Two hundred gallons of foam concentrate is also carried on board.

Dozers To aid in fighting wildfires, VCFD has multiple bulldozers. Each dozer travels on tractor-trailers alongside a tender, for maintenance.

Fire boat The VCFD has a 38-foot fireboat stationed at the Channel Islands Harbor. It is outfitted with a 1,000 GPM water cannon.

Emergency operations Bolded stations serve as quarters for the various Battalion chiefs in the VCFD. There are 5 Battalions in the department, each commanded by a Battalion Chief. Station 54 is the headquarters for the departments special operations.

Battalion 1 Battalion 1 has its Headquarters at Fire Station 54. The Special operations activities are conducted at this station; their activities include fighting fires on ships and aircraft, dealing with hazardous materials, urban search and rescue and water rescues. Battalion 1 has Fire Stations 50,52,54 in Camarillo and Fire Station 57 in Somis. station #EquipmentAddressCityNicknameReference 50 Engine 50 Crash 50 Hazmat 50Rescue Ambulance 50 Foam 50 Utility 50 Hazmat Officer two decon trailers that are at the RTC 189 S. Las Posas Rd.CamarilloCamarillo Airport 52Medic Engine 52 Engine 152 squad 525353 Santa Rosa Rd.CamarilloMission Oaks 54Battalion 1 Engine 54 Truck 54USAR 154 USAR 54 USAR officer OES swiftwater 10 OES swiftwater trailer UTV 54 Water rescue trailer 2160 Pickwick Dr.CamarilloCamarillo 55Engine 55 Engine 155 Brush Engine 355403 Valley Vista Dr.CamarilloLas Posas 57Engine 57 Brush Engine 357 Light & Air 573356 Somis Rd.SomisSomis

Battalion 2 Battalion 2 has its Headquarters at Fire Station 23. The Ojai Valley area as well as Santa Paula, Meiners Oaks, Oak View and Ventura are covered. Battalion 2 has Fire Station 20 in Santa Paula, Fire Station 21 in Ojai, Fire Station 22 in Meiners Oaks, Fire Station 23 in Oak view and Fire Station 25 in Ventura station #EquipmentAddressCityNicknameReference 20Engine 20 Patrol 20 12000 Santa Paula-Ojai Rd.Santa PaulaSummitt 21Medic Engine 21 Engine 121 Utility 21 Brush Engine 321 1201 E. Ojai Av.OjaiOjai 22Engine 22 Brush Engine 322 Utility 22 466 S. La Luna Av.Meiners OaksMeiners Oaks 23Medic rescue Engine 23 Battalion 2 15 Kunkle St.Oak ViewOak View 25Engine 25 Engine 125 Water Rescue 25 OES Water Tender 12 5674 W. Pacific Coast HighwayVenturaRincon

Battalion 3 Battalion 3 has its Headquarters at Fire Station 30. Fire Stations 30,31,33,34 and 36 in Thousand Oaks, Fire Stations 32 and 35 in Newbury Park and Fire Station 36 in Oak Park are covered by Battalion 3. station #EquipmentAddressCityNicknameReference30Engine 30 Battalion 3 Brush Engine 330 Squad 30 325 W. Hillcrest Dr.Thousand OaksCivic Center 31Medic Engine 31 Rescue 31 Rescue 131 151 N. Duesenberg Dr.Thousand OaksWestlake 32Medic Engine 32 Engine 132 Utility 32 830 Reino Rd.Newbury ParkPotrero 33Engine 33 Brush Engine 333 Patrol 3333 Lake Sherwood Dr.Thousand OaksLake Sherwood 34Medic Engine 34 Engine 134 Utility 34 Day Engine 39 (once new station 34 is finished) ground support trailer555 E. Avenida de Los ArbolesThousand OaksArboles 35Engine 35 Truck 35 Command 11 OES Reserve Engine 344751 Mitchell Rd.Newbury ParkNewbury Park 36Medic Engine 36 Engine 136 Utility 36855 Deerhill Rd.Oak ParkOak Park 37Engine 37 Light & Air 372010 Upper Ranch Rd.Thousand OaksNorth Ranch

Battalion 4 Battalion 4 has its Headquarters at Fire Station 41. Fire Stations 40 and 42 in Moorpark and Fire Stations 41,43,44,45,46 and 47 in Simi Valley are covered by Battalion 4.. station #EquipmentAddressCityNicknameReference 40Medic Engine 40 Engine 140 Water Tender 40 Utility 40USAR 40 USAR cache trailer 14185 Cedar Springs St.MoorparkMountain Meadows 41Engine 41 Truck 41 Battalion 4 Squad 41 1910 Church St.Simi ValleyChurch Street 42Engine 42 Engine 142 Brush Engine 342295 E. High StreetMoorparkMoorpark 43Medic Engine 43 Brush Engine 343Patrol 165874 E. Los Angeles Av.Simi ValleyYosemite 44Quint 44 Quint 144 Truck 1401050 Country Club Dr.Simi ValleyWood Ranch 45Engine 45 Engine 145Dozer 14790 Pacific Av.Simi ValleyPacific Street 46Engine 46 OES Engine 3973265 Tapo St.Simi ValleyTapo Street 47Medic Engine 47 Truck 147 Utility 472901 Erringer Rd.Simi ValleyBig Sky

Battalion 5 Battalion 5 has its Headquarters at Fire Station 51. Fire Stations 26 and 27 in Santa Paula, Fire Station 27 in Piru, Fire Station 51 in Oxnard, Fire Station 53 in Port Hueneme and Fire Station 56 in Malibu are covered by Battalion 5. station #EquipmentAddressCityNicknameReference 26Engine 26 Squad 26 Engine 126536 W. Main St.Santa PaulaWest Santa Paula 27Rescue Engine 27 Rescue 27 Water Tender 27 Dozer 12 Utility 27 Rescue 127133 C St.FillmoreFillmore 28Medic Engine 28 Brush Engine 328 Patrol 16513 N. Church St.PiruPiru29Engine 29 Brush Engine 329114 S. 10th St.Santa PaulaSanta Paula51Engine 51 Battalion 53302 Turnout Park Cr.OxnardEl Rio 53Medic Engine 53 Water Rescue 53304 N. Second St.Port HuenemePort Hueneme 56Engine 56 Patrol 56 Engine 35611855 Pacific Coast HighwayMalibuMalibu

Organization VCFD is under the auspices of the Ventura County Board of Supervisors, who appoint the Fire Chief. Reporting directly to the Fire Chief, the Deputy Fire Chief oversees the five bureaus within the department: Emergency Services Bureau Support Services Bureau Administrative Services Bureau Fire Prevention Bureau Business Services Bureau

Bureau of Emergency Services This bureau provides fire suppression, emergency medical care, hazardous materials response, Urban search and rescue, swift water rescue, and the Fire Training Section. Under the command of an assistant chief, the bureau composes all fire stations within the department, as well as the Fire Training and Emergency Medical Services Sections.

References

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