FAQS

Increased depth of services; decreased costs to the economies of scales; access to specialty services that jurisdictions cannot maintain on their own (i.e., Type 1 heavy rescue, Type I hazardous materials team); benefits of a regional provider with an identity and involvement of your local fire department.

The ACFD is an all risk response agency and needs to be able to respond from one type of emergency call to another in a seamless manner. Taking a fire truck or fire engine to an emergency enables ACFD firefighters the ability to clear a medical emergency and transition into responding to a structure fire in an uninterrupted and timely manner.

ACFD firefighters work 24 hours a day and are required to buy their own food so that they can prepare their meals for the entire shift at the fire station.

• Hazardous Materials
• Urban Search & Rescue
• Water Rescue
• Disaster Preparedness
• Reserve Program
• Expanded Training Opportunities
• Safe Surrender Baby Program
• CPR Training
• Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Training
• Fire Safety School Assemblies
• Fire Station Tours & Engine Visits
• Santa at the Fire House
• Fire Extinguisher Training
• Holiday Toy Drive

The ACFD’s plans for the future are to continue to partner with communities within Alameda County to assure the highest level of service in a seamless and efficient manner for all citizens in Alameda County.

The ACFD has specific personnel assigned to each jurisdiction to meet the needs of the each community while at the same time providing a regional response network that offers a clear depth of resources and synergy that each community can have on its own.

The ACFD works in collaboration with each of its jurisdictions to maintain appropriate fire clearance and fire measures for all of its communities. These fire hazardous abatement programs are conducted in accordance with state statute and locally adopted fire codes and ordinances which dictate the timing and authority that is available to the ACFD and local law enforcement.

A complaint is forwarded to the ACFD by a citizen or other city or county entity. The ACFD will investigate the complaint, prepare and communicate actions, monitor and assure compliance and forward to the appropriate law enforcement agency for further intervention as appropriate.

As part of the ACFD’s Strategic Plan, all aspects of Fire Prevention have been surveyed and monitored. The Fire Prevention staff is accessible as part of the county and city planning team to proactively work with the development community prior to project approvals in order to minimize unnecessary costs and reviews. The ACFD Fire Prevention staff is available to provide information and reference materials or consult with community members on an as-needed basis.

The ACFD 5-minute response time is based on two aspects of emergency response:

1. Emergency medical service calls are to provide life saving to assure adequate respiration and circulation are restored within a 5-6 minute window period to prevent long-term brain damage.
2. For fires, a 5-minute response time allows a sizable firefighting force to converge on a structure or wildland fire, keeping it to its point of origin or 10 acres or less.

Each person on the fire apparatus has a specific job:

1. The Company Officer/Captain is responsible for supervising the Engineer and Firefighter(s) working on his/her command. He/She has the responsibility to assess emergency situations, request and organize adequate resources and mitigate the emergency in the shortest amount of time with the least impact to the community as possible.
2. The Engineer maintains the apparatus in a state of readiness, cleanliness and function ability assuring that the equipment on the emergency scene has adequate supplies (i.e., water, air, lighting) available to emergency responders.
3. The Firefighter is responsible to carry out the tactical functions needed to mitigate an emergency as directed by the Captain and supported by the Engineer (i.e., pulling fire hose, throwing the ladder, provide emergency medical services).

The ACFD is seen as an industry leader in regional fire protection at the statewide level and beyond. The operational capabilities of the ACFD are expansive and provide a vast amount of resources and capabilities to address all types of emergencies. The strength and sustainability of the ACFD are based on its inherent collaborative approach to fire protection.