To Residents and Business owners,
Your Tax Dollars at Work
This is the first response to many common questions that are asked to the Sedona Fire District. “Why do we respond with all those fire trucks and personnel?”
The Sedona Fire District provides a variety of life and property saving services under a para-military structure. All of our protocols and policies were established to provide the best service possible and in the safest possible way. We respond with apparatus, equipment, and professional, trained personnel based on the specific emergency needs.
Structure Fires
When we answer calls to structure fires (residential or commercial buildings), we respond with various apparatus. These apparatus carry personnel and a lot of necessary equipment for the operations that need to be implemented; this occurs simultaneously with the positions needed to be filled under our Incident Command System (ICS). Under the ICS, an Incident Commander is established, normally by a Battalion Chief, and sets the strategic plan to mitigate the specific emergency incident. The Battalion Chief also assigns an Operations Officer who manages the objectives for all operations; a Safety Officer who oversees all safety concerns and has the authority to stop all operations; an Accountability Officer who manages ongoing personnel accountability; search and rescue teams for victims and pets; a ventilation crew to keep the conditions safe for all interior fire company personnel and victims; a water supply crew assigned to bring water to the fire either by water tenders or connecting to a fire hydrant and laying many feet of fire hose; and the fire suppression teams to operate the nozzles and put the fire out. Thankfully, we do not have many fires within the Sedona Fire District, but when we do, it could be catastrophic if the fire is not controlled and mitigated quickly.
We have many large homes and businesses in the District that intertwine with wildland which is known as Urban Interface Wildland. Wildland fires double in size every minute. This creates further challenges which require additional resources to mitigate the situation. Once firefighters are on the scene working and they exhaust their air supply, they go through rehabilitation before given another assignment. This is to make sure they are physically and mentally ready to continue working the fire. Hydration is very important in our geographical climate. This process allows us to rotate firefighters through the duration of the incident. If we rescue a victim or a firefighter gets injured and needs to be transported to the hospital, we would activate additional alarms to fill the position. We train and plan for the worst case scenario and each incident is different. We can never get complacent. We must follow these protocols and procedures so that safety is not compromised. The result would be someone getting injured, or possibly killed. We maintain a level of competency which is accomplished though ongoing training.
Everything we do is for a purpose. The Sedona Fire District is our community’s fire protection and Emergency Medical Service agency. We all have ownership in this outstanding Fire District of which we can be proud. Visit our website at www.sedonafire.org for more factual information.
Factual information is found on the Sedona Fire Department website at www.sedonafire.org , go to the link “Facts from the Chief”. You are also welcome to share that information. I welcome any concerns or questions you may have. Thank you for your ongoing support.
Safety First,
Nazih M. Hazime
Fire Chief
Sedona Fire District
928.204.8924
Courage to be Safe
