Charlotte Fire Department

Charlotte Fire Department
Operational area
Country United States
State North Carolina
City Charlotte
Agency overview[1]
Established1875 (1875)
Annual calls~137,000 (2022)
Employees1,300 (2022)
Annual budget$137,741,974 (2021)
StaffingCareer
Fire chiefReginald Johnson
IAFF660
Facilities and equipment[2]
Divisions1
Battalions9
Stations45
Engines44
Trucks14
Tillers1
Platforms5
Rescues2
Tenders6
HAZMAT4
USAR6
Airport crash10
Wildland5
Fireboats2
Rescue boats4
Website
Official website
IAFF website

The Charlotte Fire Department (CFD) provides fire suppression, emergency medical services, technical rescue services, hazardous materials mitigation, disaster response, code enforcement, fire investigations, and public education for the city of Charlotte, North Carolina, United States.[3][4][5] The department is responsible for an area of approximately 312 square miles (810 km2) with a day population of two million and a night population of 885,000.[5]

History

An example of the NFPA 704 "safety square", developed on the initiative of the CFD

The Charlotte Fire Department was officially formed in 1875, although fire services existed in the area for decades before that.[6]

Charlotte Fire Department developed the NFPA 704 "fire diamond" found on chemicals which depicts in a simple and clear manner the flammability, health hazards and reactivity of the substance. A fire at the Charlotte Chemical Company in 1959 led to severe injuries to many of the firefighters.[7][8] Upon arrival, the fire crew found a fire burning inside a vat that firefighters assumed to be burning kerosene. The crew tried to suppress the fire with water, which resulted in the vat exploding due to metallic sodium being stored in the kerosene. Thirteen firefighters were injured, several of whom had critical injuries while one lost both ears and most of his face from the incident. At the time, such vats were not labelled with the materials they contained, so firefighters did not have the necessary information to recognize that hazardous materials were present, which required a specific response. In this case, sodium was able to react with water to release hydrogen gas and large amounts of heat.

The Charlotte Fire Department developed training to respond to fires involving hazardous materials, ensured that protective clothing was available to those responding, and expanded the fire prevention inspection program. Fire Marshal J. F. Morris developed the diamond-shaped placard as a marking system to indicate when a building contained hazardous materials.[9]

Stations and apparatus

As of July 2026 this is the list of stations and apparatus for the department:[10]

Street Engine Company Ladder Company Rescue Company Special Unit Battalion Chief Unit
Myers StreetEngine 1Ladder 1Field Comm 1 & 2, MCP 1, Vent 1, Division Chief (Car10)Battalion Chief 1
South BoulevardEngine 2Ladder 2
Monroe RoadEngine 3Tower 3
Church StreetEngine 4Ladder 4
Wesley Heights WayEngine 5Brush 5
Laurel AvenueEngine 6
Davidson StreetEngine 7
The PlazaEngine 8
McKee RoadEngine 9Tanker 9
Wilkinson BoulevardEngine 10Rescue 10Dive 10 Battalion Chief 3
28th StreetEngine 11Rescue 11Dive 11 Battalion Chief 9
Inwood DriveEngine 12
Glenwood DriveEngine 13Ladder 13Hazmat 13
Sharon Amity RoadEngine 14
Frontenac AvenueEngine 15
Park South DriveEngine 16Ladder 16
Morris Field DriveLadder 17Blazes 1, 2, 5, & 14Battalion Chief 8
Dr. Webber AvenueEngine 18Tower 18
Sardis LaneEngine 19
Nations Ford RoadEngine 20Ladder 20Battalion Chief 5
Little Rock RoadEngine 21Brush 21 & Foam 21
Sugar Creek RoadEngine 22Tanker 22
W.T. Harris BoulevardEngine 23Ladder 23
Pineville Matthews RoadEngine 24Ladder 24
Pleasant Grove RoadEngine 25Foam 25Battalion Chief 6
Tryon StreetEngine 26Tower 26
Ken Hoffman DriveEngine 27Tower 27Battalion Chief 2
Old Statesville RoadEngine 28Ladder 28
Margaret Wallace RoadEngine 29Brush 29
Beam RoadEngine 30Brush 30
Ridge RoadEngine 31Ladder 31Brush 31
Bryant Farms RoadEngine 32Ladder 32Hazmat 32
Mount Holly Huntersville RoadEngine 33Ladder 33Deluge 33, Tanker 33
Rocky River RoadEngine 34Decon 34, Hazmat 34
Pavilion BoulevardEngine 35Tanker 35
Mallard Creek Church RoadEngine 36MOC 1
Tryon StreetEngine 37 Engine 90Tanker 37
Shopton Road WestEngine 38Dive 38, Fire Boat 38
Providence RoadEngine 39Ladder 39Battalion Chief 7
Harrisburg RoadEngine 40Ladder 40Tanker 40
West BoulevardBlazes 41, 42, & 47
Central AvenueEngine 42, Engine 65Battalion Chief 4
Clanton RoadEngine 43USAR 1
Dixie River RoadEngine 44
Tryon StreetLadder 45
Miranda Road (Under Construction)Engine 46

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons logo
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Charlotte Fire Department.
  1. ↑ "FY2015 Strategic Operation Plan" (PDF). City of Charlotte. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Operations". Charlotte Fire Department. Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  3. ↑ Chrisman, Spencer (July 16, 2024). "Firefighters extinguish 2-alarm fire at brewery in NoDa". www.wbtv.com.
  4. ↑ "Firefighters contain 2-alarm fire at Heist Brewery in NoDa". Queen City News. July 17, 2024.
  5. 1 2 "About Us". Charlotte Fire Department. Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  6. ↑ "History". Charlotte Fire Department. Archived from the original on April 16, 2015. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Fact Friday 153 - Charlotte's Haz-Mat History". 704 Shop. June 22, 2018. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  8. ↑ "July marks 62 years since Charlotte Fire invented Haz-Mat safety measure". Queen City News. June 28, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  9. ↑ "History of the Charlotte Fire Department" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 7, 2023. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
  10. ↑ "Stations". Charlotte Fire Department. Archived from the original on May 13, 2015. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.