Fire Department

541-269-1191
FAX 541-267-0378

Station1 Main Station
150 S 4th Street
Coos Bay, OR 97420
E-mail: sgibson@fire.coosbay.org

Mission Statement: The mission of the Coos Bay Fire Department is to actively promote, deliver, and preserve a feeling of security, safety and a quality level of service to the citizens of our community.

To accomplish this, the department provides a full range of emergency service responses to such incidents as fires, hazardous materials, emergency medical, water rescue, confined space rescue and other emergencies as they arise. Additionally, the department provides a number of proactive programs in fire prevention, public education and disaster preparedness.

The City of Coos Bay's Fire Department is a full-service emergency safety provider. In addition to responding to approximately 2,200 emergency requests for assistance annually, the department provides a number of proactive services including fire and safety inspections, emergency planning (disaster), consultative services and educational programs for the general public and business community.

The department provides services to the City of Coos Bay as well as contracted fire and medical service to Timber Park, Libby and Bunkerhill Fire Protection Districts. This encompasses an area of 17 square miles and a population of approximately 21,000.

The Coos Bay Fire Department is staffed by 17 career personnel and 27 volunteer fire fighters, which include the student firefighters who work directly with full time staff. This program trains personnel who desire a career in the fire service. The students are enrolled in the fire science program at Southwestern Community College.

Service to the community is provided from 3 strategically located fire stations. The locations and resources at these stations are as follows:

NOTE: The department personnel is made up of, a Fire Chief, 1 Secertary 3 Battalion Chiefs, 3 Lieutenants, 9 Firefighter/Engineers that are career, 21 Volunteers and 6 Student Firefighters. Off-duty career and volunteer staff report to the Central fire station at 150 S. 4th St. when called out for general alarms. A "General Alarm" is used when additional staffing is needed, due to structure fires, mutual aid, or specialized rescue efforts. Personnel are alerted when department pagers or horns are activated.

In addition to the resources identified above the department participates in a countywide mutual aid system, which increases the total amount of resources immediately available.

The Coos Bay Fire Department provides a number of services both traditional and some not so traditional to its customers. A brief description of these specific services are as follows.

FIRE SUPPRESSION

The Coos Bay Fire Department provides a quality level of service in a number of fire suppression disciplines including ship board, bulk fuel, rail, urban, and wildland/urban interface type fires. Career personnel receive in-depth training on a daily basis and volunteers must meet minimum hourly training requirements on a weekly basis. The department also has and maintains state of the art equipment and apparatus to meet the challenges of differing types of fires.

When a fire alarm is received the department will initiate an efficient response with its personnel, at the same time both volunteer and off-duty career personnel can be recalled by way of a "General Alarm" to provide an effective supplemental force for any operation.

EMERGENCY MEDICAL

The Coos Bay Fire Department participates in cooperation with Bay Cities Ambulance to provide a tiered emergency medical response. This system assures a very efficient and effective service level to our customers.

Any call for emergency medical assistance is immediately responded to and handled by the departments career staff. Through contractual agreement, all fire department personnel will ultimately be certified as Emergency Medical Technicians (basic level), volunteers also receive a number of hours of instruction in emergency medical practices.

RESCUE

The Coos Bay Fire Department has the expertise and equipment to handle a number of different type of rescue situations. This includes experience and training in vehicle extrication, structural collapse extrication, confined space rescues, rope rescue and water rescue.

HAZARDOUS MATERIALS TEAM

The Coos Bay Fire Department and the Charleston Fire Department are contracted by the State to provide 1 of 15 Oregon hazardous material response teams. This team provides emergency hazardous material response for all of the south coast from Florence to the Oregon/California border.

EMERGENCY SALVAGE

The Coos Bay Fire Department has the equipment and expertise to assist with mitigating emergency salvage issues. This includes water removal, protection of furnishings from damage, protection of certain types of equipment, due to water entering a structure or while overhauling a structure and smoke removal to name but a few. It must be understood these functions are to abate EMERGENCY SITUATIONS.

FIRE CAUSE DETERMINATION

The Coos Bay Fire Department conducts investigations of all fire incidents it responds to, the purpose of which is to determine the point of origin and cause. A team of department personnel are available at all times for this purpose.

In an effort to reduce the impacts of fire and accidents in the community and to better prepare the public to react to an emergency the Coos Bay Fire Department conducts a number of proactive educational and prevention programs.

The fire department is placing an increasing emphasis on these programs. It is felt to prevent or reduce the impacts of any emergency is a much more effective and efficient method of doing business. A number of these programs are described here.

FIRE AND SAFETY INSPECTIONS

The Coos Bay Fire Department can conduct on site safety and fire inspections to address such issues as fire hazards, testing of private fire protection systems, exiting, special events and storage/process safety issues.

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS FOR GENERAL PUBLIC AND BUSINESSES

The Coos Bay Fire Department provides a number of educational opportunities for both the general public and businesses for which the department provides protection.
For the general public this includes home fire escape plans, home safety inspections, cooking fire safety, family disaster preparedness, juvenile firesetter counseling, smoke detector installation and maintenance, chimney and wood burning fuel device safety and electrical hazards to name but a few. A number of programs provided for the business community include training of employees in proper use of fire extinguishers, first aid and CPR instruction, hazardous materials awareness (Community Right to Know) training, disaster preparedness for businesses, confined space rescue requirements and company self inspection practices.

CONSULTATIVE SERVICES

The Coos Bay Fire Department employees a number of professional personnel with expertise in a number of different areas. These personnel will assist businesses and others to address local, state and federal planning/training regulations. Some of these programs include: development of emergency escape plans for businesses, as required by OR-OSHA; assist in the development of an emergency operations plan for businesses generating, using or storing hazardous materials to meet SARA Title III requirements; assist with the development and activation of an industrial or local fire brigade; and assist with the development of an emergency operations plan for disaster preparedness.

CONTRACTING SERVICES

The City of Coos Bay Fire Department has for a number of years contracted a portion or all of its services to 3 rural fire protection districts these are Timber Park, Libby and Bunkerhill. These districts incorporate businesses and a combined population of approximately 5,500 people within their boundaries.

Residential outdoor burning within the City limits of Coos Bay does not require a permit from the fire department. Burning is allowed during daylight hours only, with a responsible adult equipped with a hose and a shovel or other approved fire extinguishing tool present at all times.

Those permits which fall under the category of land clearing (vacant lots), commercial, remodeling or demolition of a building, must apply at the local Department of Environmental Quality, 340 N. Front St., Coos Bay, ( phone (541) 269-2721 ) for a DEQ permit prior to seeking a fire permit from Coos Bay Fire Department.

If weather conditions warrant a ban on barrel or open burning, the message will be given out through local television, radio, newspaper and City weekly updates.

For copies of the burning regulations or any other information, please contact the Fire Department at (541) 269-1191.

BURN BARREL PERMIT REGULATIONS

Clearance from structure and clearing of grass and brush shall not be less than 15 feet. An approved burn barrel includes a screen covering with holes no larger than 1/4 inch. Permissible burnables include wood, paper, cardboard, and yard trimmings.

OPEN FIRES

Open burning shall not be conducted within 50 feet of any structure or other combustible material. Exception: Not less than 25 feet when the pile size is 3 feet or less in height. Permissible burnables include yard trimmings and scrap wood.

SLASH BURNING

Calculation of fuel tonnage and fuel moisture will be necessary to assess any risk; recording weather conditions, fire protection and trailing plans must be on the site map, and pile location approximates are required.