San Jose Fire Department


The San Jose Fire Department provides fire protection, rescue and emergency medical services to the city of San Jose, California, United States. The San Jose Fire Department protects the third largest city in California and the tenth largest city in the nation.

Coverage

The San Jose Fire Department's jurisdiction covers San Jose’s incorporated city limits and unincorporated areas of the County of Santa Clara totaling approximately 180 square miles and 1.2 million residents. SJFD is the emergency service provider for a number of high-hazard occupancies, including an International Airport; a municipal airport; 7 major hospitals ; the SAP Center, home of the NHL San Jose Sharks, ; San Jose State University, student population of 31,906; three regional super malls; and over 108 high-rise structures.

Call Volume

The San Jose Fire Department responded to 94,500 incidents in Fiscal Year 2017-2018. This included 3,500 fires and 7,000 rescue, HazMat, USAR and other non-fire related emergencies. The remaining 61% were medical related emergencies.

Services

The San Jose Fire Department is an “all risk” department meaning that it has the trained personnel and equipment to mitigate a variety of emergencies, and provides a wide array of services throughout the city. These include:
• Fire Suppression: Firefighters and fire apparatus to extinguish fires of all types, including structure fires, vehicle fires, and vegetation fires.
• Advanced Life Support : All San Jose Fire Engines and Trucks have firefighters trained to provide specialized medical care. All firefighters are Emergency Medical Technicians. Some are EMT-Paramedics, meaning they have the special training and skills to treat patients with drugs, to intubate patients who are not breathing, to gain intravenous access, to provide defibrillation to patients in cardiac arrest, and much more.
• Urban Search and Rescue : Rescue teams are prepared to handle Confined Space, Low-Angle, High-Angle, Trench, Swift-water, Open water, Flood, Collapse and a variety of other technical rescues. Several department USAR members also serve on the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force, Urban Search and Rescue California Task Force 3. The San Jose Fire Department USAR team has been certified as a Type I resource, the highest level of USAR capability.
• Hazardous Materials : A Hazardous Incident Team is trained to the HazMat Specialist level to identify hazardous materials using technical test procedures and contain, neutralize or otherwise mitigate dangerous gases, liquids or solids. The San Jose Fire Department HazMat team has been certified as a Type I resource, the highest level of HazMat capability.
• Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting: The department provides airplane crash fire suppression and rescue services by a specially equipped and trained crew based at the Norman Mineta San Jose International Airport.
• Fire Prevention: Firefighters and Fire Prevention Inspectors help ensure schools, businesses, and multi-occupancy dwellings follow fire safety codes and are safe for residents. While on emergency incidents such as medical calls, firefighters routinely check for smoke detectors and offer detectors or replace batteries.
• The Arson Unit: Responsible for investigating the origin and cause of fires. The unit is staffed by Investigators who are cross-trained as law enforcement officers with powers of arrest. Personnel in the unit are designated peace officers under California Penal Code Section 830.37.
• Public Education: Firefighters meet with the public to do home safety inspections, teach families about “Exit Drills in the Home,” teach fire safety techniques such as “Stop, Drop and Roll” in schools, and distribute fire or home safety literature.
• Emergency Preparedness: The Fire Department’s firefighters work with the public to encourage basic preparedness for routine or major catastrophes.

Operations

The San Jose Fire Department currently operates out of 33 fire stations located throughout the city, organized into five battalions. Each battalion is commanded by a Battalion Chief.
Engines, Trucks, Squads and Battalion apparatus are staffed throughout the year. Some Wildland apparatus are not staffed during summer months. Under "Other", vans, utilities, reserve engines, air units, fire support units, rescue units, USAR trailers, and the USAR boat are unstaffed - personnel from Engines, Trucks and Squads staff those apparatus when they are needed to respond. Wildland engines are prefaced with a "6" to indicate they are Type VI engines based on the National Wildfire Coordinating Group rating criteria.
In November 2018, San Jose voters passed ballot measure T. This measure provides bond funds to support the building and repair of critical city infrastructure. Some of the projects planned for Measure T funds include construction of a new fire station in the Willow Glen neighborhood, rebuilding Fire Stations 8 and 23, and building two additional new stations. During calendar 2019, the city will adopt a new 5-year fire department infrastructure plan, which will include the timing for building and staffing those stations.

Organization

The San Jose Fire Department is organized into five bureaus of operations: the Bureau of Administrative Services, the Bureau of Field Operations, the Bureau of EMS and Training, the Bureau of Support Services, and the Bureau of Fire PreventIon. Fire Communications is under BFO and is staffed by non-sworn Fire Department dispatchers. These highly-skilled dispatchers meet or exceed the criteria required for the SJFD Communications Center to be nationally accredited.Battalions 1, 5 and 10 have six fire stations while Battalion 2 has 7 fire stations and Battalion 13 has 8 fire stations.

Battalion 1

Fire Station NumberAddressEngine CompanyTruck CompanySquad CompanyOther Units
1225 N. Market St.Engine 1Truck 1Command Van 1 & Battalion 1
398 Martha St.Engine 3Squad 3
7800 Emory St.Engine 7
8802 E. Santa Clara St.Engine 8
26528 Tully Rd.Engine 26Squad 26
30454 Auzerais Ave.Engine 30Truck 30MED 30

Battalion 2

Fire Station NumberAddressEngine CompanyTruck CompanyWildland UnitOther units
22949 Alum Rock Ave.Engine 2Truck 2Engine 602, Engine 302Battalion 2, Engine 202
112840 The Villages Pkwy.Engine 11
162001 S. King Rd.Engine 16Truck 16
193292 Sierra Rd.Engine 19Engine 619
212100 S. White Rd.Engine 21Engine 621, Water Tender 21Engine 221
243910 Silver Creek.RdEngine 24Engine 624
313100 Ruby Ave.Engine 31Engine 631

Battalion 5

Fire Station NumberAddressEngine CompanyTruck CompanySquad CompanyOther Units
51380 N. 10th St.Engine 5Squad 5Battalion 5
201433 Airport Blvd.Engine 20A, 20B Reserve Engines 20C, 20D, and Rescue 20
231771 Via Cinco de MayoEngine 23
2525 Wilson WayEngine 25
29199 Innovation Dr.Engine 29Truck 29HIT 29A, 29B, Foam 29
341634 Las Plumas Ave.Engine 34USAR 34A, 34BUSAR-C, USAR-D, USAR-E, USAR Trailers, USAR Boat

Battalion 10

Fire Station NumberAddressEngine CompanyTruck CompanyOther units
4710 Leigh Ave.Engine 4Engine 204
61386 Cherry Ave.Engine 6Fire Support Unit 3
93410 Ross Ave.Engine 9Truck 9Engine 209
10511 S. Monroe St.Engine 10Battalion 10
141201 San Tomas Aquino Rd.Engine 14Truck 14
151248 S. Blaney Ave.Engine 15

Battalion 13

Fire Station NumberAddressEngine CompanyTruck CompanyWildland UnitOther units
125912 Cahalan Ave.Engine 12Engine 612
134380 Pearl Ave.Engine 13Truck 13Battalion 13, Utility 13, Engine 213
175170 Coniston WayEngine 17Water Tender 17Reserve Engine 617
184430 S. Monterey Rd.Engine 18Water Tender 18Air Unit 18, Squad 18
226461 Bose Ln.Engine 22
276027 San Ignacio WayEngine 27Engine 627
2819911 McKean Rd.Engine 28Engine 628
35135 Poughkeepsie Rd.Engine 35Truck 35Engine 335Fire Support Unit 2 and Fire Support Unit 103

Early History

El Pueblo of San Jose was protected by volunteer firemen with the founding of the Pueblo in 1777. It wasn't until 1854 that these volunteer bucket brigades would transform into the official San Jose Fire Department, labeled the San Jose Hook and Ladder Co. No. 1.
Originally consisting of volunteer firefighters in its infancy, the San Jose Fire Department was formally established by the city of San Jose on the 27th of January, 1854, with the formation of the San Jose Hook and Ladder Co. No. 1. The San Jose Fire Department has since been in service for over 165 years and is one of the oldest fire departments in the United States.

Notable Fires

The suspicious fire began in the Chinese quarters of San Jose. The cause of the fire was never determined. To this day however, many believe that racial tensions and anti-oriental sentiment was fire's main cause and that it was no accident. Chinatown structures were constructed mainly of wood, and the fire devastated the entire neighborhood which burnt to the ground. Because of the 1887 fire, Chinatown never fully rebuilt itself and its absence from the city can still be seen to this day.
The construction of Santana Row, an upscale shopping, housing, dining and entertainment complex, faced a major setback in 2002 when an 11-alarm fire went ablaze. The fire took several fire companies to put out, and the effort immediately became defensive as the San Jose firefighters turned their attention towards protecting surrounding homes and businesses from flying embers. The Santana Row Fire was the biggest fire in the history of the city.
In the early morning of July 17, 2007, a suspicious fire consumed the historic landmark located at 156 E. St. John Street in San Jose which once housed early San Jose Mayor Sherman Houghton and his wife, Donner Party survivor Eliza Donner Houghton. The San Jose Police Department was the first on the scene to evacuate squatters who took shelter in the historic house. The four-alarm fire left the historic house charred and irreparable, and the city decided to slowly demolish the building to ensure public safety and to also allow fire investigators to determine the cause of the incident. The city tried to salvage parts of the house in an effort to save as much history as possible. After investigation, it was believed that the fire was started by squatters who lived in or around the vacant house. The squatters often started small fires to stay warm and to cook meals. Mattresses and chairs were found on the property, indicating their occupancy. The city of San Jose faced criticism for allowing the historic house to be vacant for so long, allowing unwanted squatters to break in and seek quarters inside unsafe living conditions.

Fallen Firefighters