Santa Ana Fire Department

The Santa Ana Fire Department (SAFD) is the agency that provides fire protection and emergency medical services for Santa Ana, California. SAFD has earned a Class I Fire Department designation from the Insurance Services Office.

Services
The Emergency Operations department is repsonsible for all fire suppression, emergency medical services (EMS) and hazardous materials (haz-mat) incident response. The SAFD has 205 firefighters stationed in ten fire stations. The Department is organized into ten fire engine companies, four truck companies, and a Type I Haz-Mat unit operating under a Battalion Chief. The Department also fields six Advanced Life Support (ALS) Paramedic Ambulances. The Department achieves a response time of less than five minutes on 90% of their calls.

The SAFD has a number of firefighters trained in a variety of specialties. The Department has a 24-member Type I Swiftwater Rescue Team with 8 members on duty at all times. Forty firefighters are tranined in heavy urban search and rescue (US&R) team with many of them being members of Urban Search and Rescue California Task Force 5. The Haz-Mat Unit consists of four personnel and two pieces of apparatus. Firefighter paramedics are also assigned to the Santa Ana Police Department's SWAT unit. Because portions of Santa Ana are located at the interface of wilderness areas, all SAFD firefighters are trained in wildfire suppression.

History
On May 25 1883, the village of Santa Ana organized a fire department funded by a tax of ninety cents per $100 of assessed property valuation. The first volunteer department roster listed 35 members, including the Chief and two Assistant Chiefs. An 1885 vote on purchasing a fire bell, which the Department needed to summon firefighters in the event of a fire, and erecting a tower to house the bell was defeated by 3 votes. On July 28, the SAFD held a meeting and the entire department resigned.

On June 1 1886, the village of Santa Ana was incorporated into a city. One of the first issues the new Board of Trustees addressed was the lack of a fire department. In August of that year, the Board legislated the creation of the City Fire Department providing for a Chief, an engine and hose company, and a ladder company. The establishment of the Santa Ana Gas Company in 1886 and the installation of gas lighting in the city hastened the restoration of the Fire Department.

By 1890, the Municipal Water Department was approved by voters. The MWD was to install and maintain fire hydrants. The funding for the MWD included hose carts that were originally hand-drawn and were later updated to be horse-drawn.

The new water system and fire department was put to the test in 1892 when a large fire occurred at the tern-Goodman's Store. It was discovered that there was insufficient water pressure to create a respectable water stream through the hoses. The City passed an ordinance banning the use of water during a fire, punishable by jail time and a fine.

Initially, the firefighters were paid on a sliding scale based on which company arrived at the scene first with $2 to each member of the first company on the scene, $1.50 for the second and $1 for the third. This created situations in which the fire companies would fight each other instead of the fire. To rectify the situation, the Trustees voted in 1899 to pay a flat $2 to every firefighter that responded if their services were needed. This created an uproar and the firefighters threatened the second mass resignation in the Department's history. This led to a compromise wherein each member would be paid $2 for a fire and $1 for a false alarm or a fire extinguished prior to their arrival. This prevented another walkout.

In 1904, a new fire station was completed, a fire alarm system was installed, a new engine and hose cart were built, and three new horses with harnesses were purchased.

By 1916, the SAFD had been updated to all motorized apparatus and changed from all volunteer to partially-paid.

A new station was built in 1921 with two more built in 1924. One of the stations was poorly located and was replaced with a new one in 1926.

In 1927, Fire Station Number (No.) 4, located at 625 South Cypress, was added. This station was the Communications Center and the receiving station for the fire alarm system.

The Great Depression slowed growth of the Department and just as the Department was ready to purchase additional equipment and apparatus, World War II broke out. Following the War, the Department embarked on a major expansion project to keep up with the population boom that was occurring.

All of the stations that were built between 1904 and 1929 were replaced with new stations. A new station was built in 1967. The new station included a training facility. A three-platoon work schedule was implemented in 1969, causing consternation amongst the fire fighters. Eventually, the nine-day rotation cycle was agreed on and has remained the standard for the Department.

By 1970, SAFD had grown to over 200 members and nine stations. The Department had also progressed from a Class 6 Department to Class 3 Department.

A bond measure to provide additional fire protection and to create a paramedic program narrowly failed in 1972. Had this passed, Santa Ana would have had one of the first paramedic program in the United States. A utility tax eventually funded the training of paramedics, allowing Medic-52, the first paramedic unit in SAFD to begin operation in 1973.

The tenth fire station was opened in 1974.

Between 1981 and 1984 the Reserve Academy graduated more than two hundred Firefighter I trainees. More than seventy-five of the graduates, including four women, were hired by the SAFD.

In 1982, Santa Ana became the third city to achieve a Class I rating, the first west of the Mississippi River. The Hazardous Materials Response Team was organized two years later and the paramedic program was changed to a "privatized" model whereby persons who used the paramedic program were charged for usage unless they had paid an annual fee.

Station #9 had been closed due to the aging building and condemnation of the training tower. Increased response time to the areas covered by Station #9 led to construction of a replacement station in 1987. The training function was moved to the North Net Fire Training Center, operated in conjunction with the Anaheim Fire Department and the Orange Fire Department.