North Pole / Alaska / United States
After a series of structure fires and one fatality left homeowners devastated, concerned citizens organized together and formed the first volunteer fire department outside the city of Fairbanks, Alaska, and in January 1975 the North Star Volunteer Fire Department was founded. With the northwest boundary located adjacent to the southeast boundary with the City of Fairbanks, the service area has grown progressively and now encompasses 95 square miles and protects a population of approximately 20, 000 people. The service area also has an assessed value of over $1 Billion. OCCUPANCY: The area is primarily residential with a variety of light commercial business. The small businesses are primarily private bush airfields, welding shops, auto, truck, and general repair shops, restaurants, craft shops, one large grocery store, and three elementary schools, two of them public. Zoning is unrestricted. There is a significant urban/wildland interface problem with brush and grassland fires during the summer months. NSVFD also provides contract fire prevention and suppression services to two public elementary schools located outside the fire service area in areas with no other fire protection services. TARGET HAZARDS: Major significant concerns are the elementary schools, numerous multistory apartment buildings ( up to 72 units ), the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline, one pipeline metering station critical to the local oil refineries and electrical power generation station, the only major divided highway between the city of Fairbanks and a major Air Force base, local major equipment supply yards, Urban / Wildland Interface areas with subdivisions built within densely wooded Black Spruce forests, and threats to two major military bases adjacent to the district. Placarded and non-placarded hazardous materials and military transport of munitions pass through the service area via the Richardson Highway and the Alaska Railroad daily. PERSONNEL: Approximately 80 personnel including a staff of eight full-time and one part time paid with the balance volunteers, make up the departments total staffing. Personnel include the Fire Chief, Deputy Chief ( Operation Division ), three Assistant Chiefs; ( Training Division, Fire Investigations, and EMS/Health & Safety ), Fire Data Specialist, Data Entry Technician II, 20 Support Division personnel, both administrative and operational; three Battalion Chiefs, three Captains, three Lieutenants, nine apparatus drivers /pump operators, thirty firefighters, and six Firefighter Explorers. The Firefighter Explorers Program was started in 1984 as an avenue for young men and women between the ages of 15 and 18 to provide an opportunity to experience the emergency services, along with the subsequent rewards and hardships. This is an extension of the departments philosophy to promote opportunities for entry into career positions. It has proven to be very successful as a large number of young people have joined and found the fire service to be their calling. All Firefighter Explorers carry out a support role on the training ground and around the fire station, and are prevented from entering dangerous or hot zones and traumatic incident scenes. FIRE STATIONS: North Stars facilities consist of one headquarters station with four satellite stations. Station One is manned 24/7 by paid staff. Stations 3, 4, and 5 are manned by fire department resident volunteer firefighters or have apparatus that respond with drivers that initially respond from home. Station 2 is an inactive station however is still valuable as heated, secure storage for reserve apparatus and off-season equipment. All fire stations have built in fire-wells providing up to 200 GPM for water supply. REGULAR RUNNING CARD ASSIGNMENTS: Battalion personnel on shift provide initial response to structure fires, emergency medical calls, vehicle fires, dumpster fires, Wildland fires, etc., with the first out engine from the nearest station, supporting apparatus from Sta
