Strasburg, Pennsylvania is an incorporated town located about ten miles southeast
of the City of Lancaster. The population of Strasburg is approximately 10,000. The
Strasburg Volunteer Fire Department services the town, the surrounding township, and the
unincorporated areas outside of Strasburg. The Strasburg Volunteer Fire Department is a
member of the Lancaster County Firemen's Association, which provides fire and rescue
protection throughout Lancaster County. The Firemen's Association is the agency that
coordinates the response and mutual aid of over 100 individual corporations, also called fire
companies. The fire departments in Lancaster County are centrally dispatched by the
County Fire Dispatch Center.
All of the fire departments are completely staffed by volunteers except for the City
of Lancaster Fire Department, which is a career department. Lancaster County volunteer
companies and Lancaster City respond into each other's jurisdictions using automatic
mutual aid.
All fire apparatus is dispatched by the County Fire Dispatch Center, with the closest
unit dispatched first. Each volunteer fire department determines the number and type of
emergency units needed to respond within their district. Commercial buildings and public
assembly occupancies are given box alarm assignments including up to four engines plus
units such as aerial ladder trucks, tankers, and rescue squads. The box alarm for the theater
fire in the Strasburg district called for three engines (Class A pumpers) and two tanker
trucks. This assignment was established because Strasburg is a rural area without municipal
water services, and tankers are needed to supply water for fire operations.
The County Firemen's Association employs a Fire Coordinator who coordinates the
fire suppression, administration, and fire prevention efforts countywide. There is also an
Assistant Coordinator who is primarily responsible for fire safety education efforts in the
county. The Fire Coordinator and staff are primarily responsible to provide day to day
administration of the Firemen’s Association for the Lancaster County fire service. The Fire
Coordinator does not have any direct operational authority on emergency incidents.
However, the Fire Coordinator assists with incident command and other duties, such as
public information and liaison.
The Firemen's Association is organized as a confederation of individual departments.
Each department controls the training standards, operating procedures and selection of
operational and administrative officers. The Firemen's Association implements standard
operating procedures for countywide operations as agreed upon by the members’
consensus. These countywide procedures include centralized equipment dispatch, radio
communications procedures, and emergency incident command protocols.
The Strasburg Fire Department, like all Lancaster County volunteer fire
departments, is self-supported by fund drives and other fund-raising events, such as
community dinners. Many of the departments enjoy good community support. They do not
receive any direct funding from local or state governments, although the state government
provides firefighting training that often is coordinated through the counties.
The Strasburg Fire Department requires completion of the state-certified Firefighter
Essentials Class before members become full-fledged firefighters and are permitted to
handle interior firefighting. New firefighters without state certification (i.e., junior or
probationary firefighters), are allowed to respond to fires after completing company-level
training on basic hose and ladder procedures. Junior firefighters without state training are
limited to lower-risk outside duties. State training is supplemented by periodic company
training sessions, which are the responsibility of the Captain, with oversight from the Chief.
Each company’s membership elects its chief and line officers. Line officers receive
additional training, such as incident command, from the Firemen's Association.
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