Toronto Fire Services
| Toronto Fire Services | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Professional fire brigade | |
| Founding year: | 1874 (current form: 1998) |
| Locations: | 81 fire stations |
| Employee: | approx. 3,100 |
| Vehicles: | approx. 170 emergency vehicles |
| City of Toronto: Fire Services | |
Toronto Fire Services (TFS) is the name of the fire department in the Canadian city of Toronto . In its 630 km² area it ensures the safety of over 2.6 million people. In addition to fire fighting, their tasks include preventive fire protection , technical assistance , rescue at heights , dangerous goods operations and first aid in the event of medical emergencies . However, the actual rescue service does not fall under the responsibility of the TFS and is taken over by the Toronto Paramedic Services .
In addition to the headquarters on Dufferin Street , the fire department has various training, administration and maintenance locations as well as 81 permanently manned fire stations . With around 3,100 employees, it is Canada's largest municipal fire service.
history
The first voluntary and independently run syringe teams existed in Toronto as early as 1826. The first official fire department of the city of Toronto was founded in 1874 and at that time also consisted entirely of volunteers. Training and especially equipment were still very rudimentary in these early years, which was particularly evident in the two major fires in 1849 and 1904 . From 1910 onwards, motorized fire engines slowly replaced the horse and carts that had been used until then.
The fire brigade has existed in its current form since January 1, 1998, when the fire brigades of these municipalities were merged as part of the merger of the independent municipalities of the Toronto metropolitan area to form the city of Toronto.
Today's organization
Today's TFS is a pure professional fire brigade with exclusively full-time staff. For larger or longer-term deployments, volunteers in the form of a catering unit of the Greater Toronto Multiple Alarm Association are used, but these forces are not officially part of the fire service.
Geographical breakdown
Organizationally, this is the city of Toronto in four areas divided (North Command, East Command, Command South and West Command) , which in turn into districts (Districts) are divided. The individual fire stations are assigned to the districts. The fire brigade currently has 81 permanently manned guards.
The North Command is mainly responsible for the district of North York , as well as for the northern part of Old Toronto . It includes districts 11, 13 and 14 with a total of 20 fire stations. District 12 was dissolved as part of budget cuts in 2013 and the associated fire stations were divided between districts 11 and 13.
The East Command is primarily responsible for the Scarborough district, but also includes parts of East York and Old Toronto in its release area. It consists of the districts 21 to 24 and includes 21 fire stations.
The South Command is responsible for Downtown Toronto , the Toronto Islands , and parts of East York and York . It comprises Districts 31 to 34 with a total of 21 permanently manned fire stations, as well as one additional station at Exhibition Place (TFS Station 346), which is manned every year in late summer during the Canadian National Exhibition .
The West Command is responsible for the Etobicoke district , as well as for parts of Old Toronto, North York and York. It includes districts 41 to 44. After a station was closed on April 21, 2014 as part of budget cuts (TFS station 424), it currently still comprises 19 fire stations.
Management structure
The office management of the fire brigade lies with the Fire Chief ( radio call name Car 1 ), to whom five deputy chiefs report (radio call names Car 2 to Car 5 and, deviating from the system, Car 50 ). In particular, they are responsible for the administrative management of the TFS, as well as the management of larger operations. Four Division Commanders are located on the next lower level (radio call names Car 6 to Car 9 ). They each have overall responsibility for one command. Fire Chiefs, Deputy Chiefs and Division Commanders work day shifts, i.e. regular office hours.
The next level is made up of the Platoon Chiefs . These are also used in administrative management functions in day shifts. In addition, the Platoon Chiefs take turns in 24-hour shift work to manage a shift within the Commands. The shift supervisors on duty have the paging names Car 10 (North Command), Car 20 (East Command), Car 30 (South Command) and Car 40 (West Command). The District Chiefs are responsible for running the districts . They also work in 24-hour shifts. The paging names of the district chiefs on duty are composed of the number of the command and the respective district (e.g. Car 42 - the district chief on duty in the second district of West Command). In action, their function is roughly comparable to that of a train driver . Like the Platoon Chiefs, the District Chiefs are also active in day-to-day administration. There are between four and eight fire stations per district (usually five or six), which are numbered according to the same system as the districts. A third digit for the respective watch is added to the number of the respective district (e.g. TFS Station 213 - the third watch in the first district of the East Command). The guards of District 12 (guards 121, 122, 123 and 125) kept their names after its dissolution, although they were subordinate to District 11 and 13.
The individual units are led by captains (roughly comparable to a group leader ). Per layer each have a captain and two to three more firefighters (occupy Firefighters ) a vehicle. The firefighter rank comes in three grades. Immediately after the basic training, the freshly trained firefighters are assigned to the individual units as Probationary Firefighters , where they receive further training in parallel to the emergency services and have to prove themselves. After passing this probationary period, they will initially be promoted to Firefighter Second Class and after a corresponding period of service and associated training they can achieve the rank of Firefighter First Class .
In use, the ranks can be differentiated based on the helmet color:
- Firefighter: black
- Captain: red
- from District Chief : white
- from Division Commander: white; also white jacket and trousers
equipment
The fire brigade has around 170 operational vehicles and two fire boats , as well as various reserve and other service vehicles. The designation of the individual emergency vehicles is based on the vehicle type and the number of the guard on which the vehicle is stationed (e.g. pumper 135 or P135 for short for the pumper of guard 135). If two vehicles of the same type are stationed at a station, a “B” is appended to the number of the second vehicle . The following types of vehicles are in use at TFS:
Emergency vehicles
| Vehicle designation | Abbreviation | Vehicle type | tasks | Equipment (excerpts) | Crew ( Captain / Firefighter ) |
number |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pumper | (Pxxx) | classic (tank) fire engine | Fire fighting and first aid medical care | built-in pump , water tank, hoses, spray pipes , breathing apparatus , various tools (e.g. Halligan tools ), medical supplies | 1/3 | 59 + 14 reserve |
| Rescue | (Rxxx) | rough with HLF or RLF comparable | like pumper , but additional equipment for technical assistance ; Rescues put at building fires also the Rapid Intervention Team (RIT) , which, when respiratory protection emergency is used | like pumper ; in addition, devices for technical assistance | 1/3 | 28 + 4 reserve |
| Aerial | (Axxx) | Turntable ladder without rescue cage | Search of people in case of building fires and ventilation of buildings; can also be used for fire fighting, as they are designed as quints and have a pump, hose material and a water tank | Thermal imaging cameras , pressurized aerators , saws for creating exhaust air openings | 1/2 | 26 + 4 reserve |
| Platform | (PL432) | Turntable ladder with rescue cage | like Aerial | like Aerial | 1/2 | 1 |
| Tower | (T114, T331, T333) | Telescopic mast | like Aerial | like Aerial | 1/2 | 3 |
| Squad | (Sxxx) | Rescue vehicle | Technical assistance of all kinds, rescue at heights, personal support for fire operations | hydraulic rescue device , lifting bags , substructure and support material, various saws ( chainsaw , reciprocating saw, etc.), height rescue equipment, etc. | at least 1/2 | 5 + 2 reserve |
| High rise unit | (HR332) | Equipment trolley high-rise | “High-rise unit” specially designed for use in fires in high-rise buildings or in underground systems; the entire load is thematically grouped into modules, which should facilitate transport over (escalator) stairs and in elevators | Modules for medical first aid, respiratory protection, door openings, etc. | at least 1/2 | 1 |
| Hazardous Materials Unit | (HZ145, HZ332) | Equipment trolley for dangerous goods | Assistance in all types of accidents involving dangerous goods (e.g. chemical leaks, gas leaks, oil accidents ), personal support during fire operations | Chemical protective suits , collection and transfer material, chemical binders , extensive equipment with measuring devices | at least 1/2 | 2 |
| Air & Light Unit | (LA114, LA231, LA333, LA421) | Equipment trolley respiratory protection & light | Supply of fresh respiratory protection equipment, illumination of emergency areas, supply of emergency services on a smaller scale | Breathing apparatus and bottles, light masts and mobile lighting devices, beverages | 0/2 or 0/1 | 4th |
Command vehicles
The managers have their own vehicles available for use. The vehicles of the management ranks from Platoon Chief upwards ( Car x0 or Car x ) are classic command vehicles and serve these Chiefs as service and feeder vehicles. The vehicles of the District Chiefs (Car xx) are roughly equivalent in terms of equipment and function to an ELW 1 and, in addition to the District Chief, are manned by a Fire Incident Technician (FIT) . As a management assistant, this person is responsible , for example, for communication with the control center and keeping a situation report. In addition, three command trucks (CMD10, CMD30 and CMD60) are available to provide command support for large-scale operations . These are roughly comparable to an ELW 2 and have, among other things, a radio room, a meeting room, material for displaying the situation (e.g. whiteboard / magnetic board , projector ), maps, reference works and extensive radio equipment.
Special vehicles
In addition to the primary emergency vehicles, the TFS also has other vehicles available for support and special tasks. This includes:
- two Hazmat Support Trucks (HMS145, HMS332) ( equipment trolley with additional material for hazardous goods operations)
- a decontamination truck (DE234) (decontamination vehicle, comparable to a Dekon-P )
- a Trench Rescue Support Unit (TRS235) (equipment trolley for rescue )
- a Water Tanker (WT211) ( large tank tender for the water supply in the outskirts of the East Command)
- a Rapid Attack Vehicle (RAV335) ( pre-extinguishing vehicle stationed on the Toronto Islands )
Reserve vehicles
The TFS keeps some pumpers, rescues, aerials, squads and district chief cars as reserve vehicles. Since these are also distributed among the guards, they are identified like the emergency vehicles by their type and guard number. To mark them as reserve vehicles, a 5 is inserted. If an emergency vehicle is temporarily replaced with a spare vehicle (z. B. for repairs), the spare vehicle uses the original vehicle number with a suffix C . Since the TFS only has a few reserve turntable ladders (aerials) available, reserve fire engines (pumpers) are sometimes used as a replacement for aerials. Such inserted Reserve Fire Engine uses an identifier for the pattern P - Original Registration number - CA .
- Example: The regular Aerial 135 emergency vehicle has to go to the workshop. As a replacement, the reserve turntable ladder Aerial 5116 stationed at guard 116 is transferred to guard 135 and operates as Aerial 135C during this period . If, due to the lack of availability of a turntable ladder, a fire engine must be used as a replacement, for example the reserve fire engine Pumper 5141 stationed at the station 141 , it will drive as Pumper 135CA during the corresponding period .
Illustrations
Toronto Fire Services Fire Truck Pumper 314
Toronto Fire Services fire engine Pumper 334
Toronto Fire Services aerial ladder 312
Toronto Fire Services high-rise unit High Rise 332
Toronto Fire Services Reserve Fire Truck Pumper 5227
Toronto Fire Services Lifeboat Sora
Toronto Fire Services fireboat William Lyon Mackenzie
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://torontoparamedicservices.ca/blog/changing-the-name-behind-the-scenes/
- ↑ http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/09/18/toronto-ems-to-change-its-name-to-paramedic-services-to-make-it-clear-that-a-paramedic-is -coming-to-the-rescue /
- ↑ a b c d Archived copy ( memento of the original from June 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ A b Marla Friebe: A History of the Toronto Fire Services 1874-2002. City of Toronto, Toronto, 2003
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from September 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from September 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://globalnews.ca/news/1281355/toronto-to-have-four-fewer-fire-trucks-starting-today/
- ↑ a b c http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2013/ex/bgrd/backgroundfile-59903.pdf
- ↑ a b c d http://nycfire.net/forums/index.php/topic,29689.html
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from September 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Archived copy ( memento of the original from September 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- City of Toronto: Fire Services , (English)
- City of Toronto: Fire Services - currently ongoing operations , (English)
- City of Toronto: Emergency Medical Services , (English)
- City of Toronto: Police Services , (English)
- Toronto Fire Pics website , page with pictures of TFS operations, fire stations and vehicles
- Scarborough Fire Fighters , (English)
- Greater Toronto Multiple Alarm Association , (English)