General FAQ’s
How many calls does the FCFA respond to every year? In 2020, FCFA responded to nearly 4,000 calls for service, representing a 10.5% increase over 2019. Over 60% of total call volume was for emergency medical incidents.
Why do we need 3 fire stations? Timing is vital to outcomes for fires and medical incidents. Our resources are distributed throughout the Five Cities Fire Authority service area to minimize response time because left unchecked, a fire will double in size every 1-2 minutes. With 3 fire stations, we are better equipped to respond to both simultaneous 9-1-1 calls and complex incidents (fires, vehicle accidents, structure damage) with multiple resources. FCFA resources are dispatched using GPS with the nearest available engine company being dispatched to the call for service.
FCFA is an “All-Risk” Fire Department, what does that mean?
FCFA firefighters are trained, outfitted, and prepared to deal with a wide variety of emergencies. “All Risk” essentially means the Department responds to all types of Fires, Medical Emergencies, Technical Rescues, Hazardous Materials and Fire Prevention Code Enforcement. Department members participate in a rigorous yearly training plan that covers the many types of emergencies encountered.
Do you rescue cats from trees? We are called to assist the public with many different situations. These include but are not restricted to assisting with flooding, helping the elderly or infirm back into bed, and investigating unusual situations (electrical/smoke/possible hazardous conditions). We typically do not rescue cats from trees. Often cats will come down on their own or you may contact a commercial tree service to assist.
How does the FCFA function on a daily basis? Functions of the organization are divided into two primary areas, emergency, and non-emergency. Emergency operations consist of various fire incidents, fire alarms, medical calls, hazardous materials incidents, natural disasters, and automatic and mutual aid responses. Non-emergencies consist of fire prevention, training, maintenance, and public education activities.
Does the Fire department charge a fee to respond to an emergency? No fee is charged for the Fire department to respond to an emergency. Multiple false alarms at the same address, or expenditures incurred by the FCFA for incidents caused by gross negligence (DUI vehicle into building) can result in a citation fee. Ambulance transport (by San Luis Ambulance) to a hospital will result in a fee to the service provider, not the Fire Department.
Who should I contact about my ambulance bill? All services performed by FCFA are paid through an annual operating budget. If ambulance service is utilized for transportation to a medical hospital please contact San Luis Ambulance for any billing questions at 805.543.2626.
How do I get a copy of a fire or medical patient report? Fill out a Request for Public Records form. Medical reports are confidential and can only be provided to the patient with proper ID or to a representative of the patient with a signed release.
Where can I take household hazardous waste? We do NOT accept surplus or expired pharmaceuticals, needles/sharps, flares, fireworks, expired fire extinguishers, propane, paint, chemicals, etc. Please contact the San Luis Obispo County Integrated Waste Management Authority. They provide residents of San Luis Obispo County multiple locations to properly dispose their Household Hazardous Waste for free. The San Luis Obispo location is: Cold Canyon Landfill 2268 Carpenter Canyon Road / 805.782.8530.
Where can I properly dispose of surplus or expired pharmaceuticals or needles/sharps? The following link is a good resource to find locations: https://safe.pharmacy/drug-disposal/.
What is the work schedule for FCFA firefighters? Our firefighters are on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Firefighters are assigned to work 48-hour shifts beginning at 8a.m. To ensure 24/7 coverage, there are three separate shifts each working an average of 56 hours a week. Working less than the 56-hour schedule could require adding a 4th shift and 8 more firefighters.
Do Firefighters work overtime? FCFA minimum staffing is 8 firefighters on duty daily plus a Battalion Chief to serve Arroyo Grande, Grover Beach and Oceano. Firefighters can be mandated to work to fulfill minimum staffing due to other employees being off on benefit time (sick/vacation) or out of county on mutual aid incidents. The cost of mutual aid incidents is reimbursed to the FCFA, covering ALL operating costs.
Why do we see fire crews at the store?
Firefighters are like everyone else. They need to eat and must supply and pay for their own food. FCFA firefighters are on-duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week, always ready to respond to a call, even when they are at the grocery store. Each crew of firefighters stays together throughout their entire 48-hour shift to ensure they can respond to an emergency, with the proper equipment, from any location within minutes. Being out in the community also gives us a chance to meet with residents and get to know the people in our neighborhoods, which makes us better first responders.
What do FCFA firefighters do when they are not fighting fires? Fighting fires are only a small portion of a firefighter’s duties. Medical emergencies, and other types of calls keep firefighters busy. Firefighters are responsible for the care and upkeep of all apparatus and equipment used in fighting fires and caring for patients. All equipment must be in top condition and ready for any type of incident. Maintenance of apparatus and equipment is vitally important to the fire service. This not only assures us of proper operating conditions, but it constantly familiarizes members with the technical aspects of our equipment. Firefighters also are responsible for the care of the fire station, a host of daily chores, give station tours and participate in ongoing training. All this is between emergency calls.
Who cleans the station? The Firefighters do.
How far away should you be when parking near a fire hydrant? You need to have a 15-foot distance between your vehicle and the fire hydrant. In the event of a fire, our personnel need adequate room to operate the fire hydrant and connect hose lines.
Operational FAQ’s
Why does a fire engine respond with the ambulance? FCFA is committed to providing professional and compassionate care to our communities. A fire engine is dispatched with an ambulance on many calls for various reasons. Patient-care timing and the limited number of ambulances in the County drives the need for fire-based EMS. In many cases, the fire engine may be closer and can initiate medical care before the arrival of the ambulance. The fire engine and ambulance crews work together to make a highly efficient team to provide you with an unsurpassed level of care and best possible outcome.
Why do so many vehicles respond to simple incidents?
FCFA units are dispatched according to information received by the 9-1-1 operator for the type of emergency occurring. Certain emergencies require a single unit response, such as a medical aid or smoke check, whereas a structure fire would require multiple units and possible additional assistance from CAL FIRE, our allied County Fire Department. The 9-1-1 dispatch center selects the nearest available FCFA resource using GPS technology.
How come I see fire engines with full lights and sirens go through a red light at intersections and then, after they go through, they turn off their lights and slow down?
Sometimes several units are dispatched to the same incident. The first unit may have arrived on the scene, surveyed the situation, and informed the dispatcher that the situation was under control. Other responding units may be cancelled and be available to respond to another 9-1-1 call.
How much water is carried on the fire engine? All FCFA fire engines have 500 gallon water tanks. Other department vehicles have water tanks ranging from 300-400 gallons.
Why do I see FCFA firefighters cutting holes in the roof of a building on fire?
This is called vertical ventilation or "venting the roof." There are two basic reasons for this practice. The first is to remove dangerous and toxic gases (smoke) that accumulates in a burning building to improve visibility and reduce potential Flashover or a Backdraft. Another reason for venting the roof is to see how far the fire has progressed. One of the fastest avenues through which fires spread is the attic. Heat and smoke rise into the attic where the fire can move quickly. Firefighters may go ahead of the fire on a roof, cut holes to access the attic and stop the fire from spreading through the attic.
Why do you block traffic lanes at auto accidents—it seems like more lanes than necessary?
We block traffic lanes for the safety of our personnel and our patients. Blocking extra lanes keep our personnel safe when they go back to our apparatus to get more equipment and help protect the victim we are trying to stabilize.
Why do firefighters care if you drive over fire hose?
Fire hoses should NEVER be driven over. Firefighters are very much concerned about running over fire hoses because the hose can be damaged thus cutting off the water supply to the pumping apparatus or firefighter at the end of a nozzle.
Do FCFA employees participate on regional teams? Yes, department members participate on most county-wide teams including: Hazardous Materials Response, Technical Rescue, Fire Investigation, Type III Incident Management Team, and continued participation in the Automatic/Mutual Aid system.
Do the communities served by the FCFA lose any fire protection when our units are out of town on Mutual Aid assignments? On an incident where resources are dispatched to assist another community for an extended period, we recall firefighters to staff the fire station and remaining apparatus. These members are usually in quarters within an hour of the dispatch. We provide Mutual Aid to those communities in need as they would provide our community the same under similar circumstances.
When responding to a call in the middle of the night, do the firefighters have to sound the fire engine sirens even though traffic is probably light? Yes, state vehicle code mandates that while responding Code 3, an emergency response vehicle must have all emergency lights on and the siren sounding. A Code 3 response is initiated when life, property or the environment is in immediate jeopardy (i.e. life-threatening emergencies, fires, or the release of hazardous materials.)
Firefighters wear a lot of gear; is it fireproof and how much does it weigh? The gear weighs about 50 pounds. This special clothing is called “turn-outs” or “bunker” gear as they originally were turned inside out and kept next to bunks to facilitate a quick change at night. The turnouts are made of a material called PBI/Nomex which is fire retardant but not fireproof, so it will burn, but at very high temperatures. We must be able to put our turnouts on in less than a minute and yes, it does get very warm in the summer as we must wear this gear when responding to structure fires, hazardous materials incidents, and traffic accidents.
Why do we have a 100-foot ladder truck? Truck 6645 is staffed with three (3) firefighters from Fire Station #1 in Arroyo Grande. The truck is a unique and vital tool for protecting the community. The ladder truck can help with elevated rescues, overcome setbacks, elevated water tower operations, and fire exposure protection, along with extrication (“jaws of life”). While you may think a 100-foot ladder may be “overkill,” deployment of the ladder is often times more about “reach” than height. Imagine the ladder truck responding to a multi-story apartment building that has street parking. The ladder truck will park in the middle of the street and still has to reach over the parked vehicle, sidewalk and to the appropriate place on the building. There are five (5) ladder trucks in our county with the next nearest truck in the City of San Luis Obispo. The ladder truck is an integral part of our favorable ISO rating (Insurance Service Office). This rating is used to compute fire insurance premiums for our residents and business owners.
Why do I see other agencies responding for hazardous materials incidents, complex rescues, and fires? In addition to our automatic aid agreement, we also have specialized teams throughout the county including regional hazmat, urban search and rescue, and fire investigations teams. This is a cost-effective way of providing full-service capabilities while sharing personnel, training, and equipment with other fire departments in our area.