Charlotte Fire Department

Charlotte Fire Department

Operational area
Country	United States
State	North Carolina
City	Charlotte
Agency overview [1]
Established	1875 (1875)
Annual calls	~137,000 (2022)
Employees	1,300 (2022)
Annual budget	$137,741,974 (2021)
Staffing	Career
Fire chief	Reginald Johnson
IAFF	660
Facilities and equipment [2]
Divisions	1
Battalions	9
Stations	43
Engines	44
Trucks	13
Tillers	1
Platforms	4
Rescues	2
Tenders	6
HAZMAT	4
USAR	6
Airport crash	10
Wildland	5
Fireboats	2
Rescue boats	4
Website
Official website
IAFF website

The Charlotte Fire Department (CFD) provides fire suppression, emergency medical services, technical rescue services, hazardous materials mitigation, disaster response, code enforcement, fire investigations, and public education for the city of Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. ^{[3] [4] [5]} The department is responsible for an area of approximately 312 square miles (810 km²) with a day population of two million and a night population of 885,000. ^[5]

History

An example of the NFPA 704 "safety square", developed on the initiative of the CFD.

The Charlotte Fire Department was officially formed in 1875, although fire services existed in the area for decades before that. ^[6]

Charlotte Fire Department is notable for its role in the development of NFPA 704, the "fire diamond" found on chemicals which depicts in a simple and clear manner the flammability, health hazards and reactivity of the substance. A fire at the Charlotte Chemical Company in 1959 led to severe injuries to many of the firefighters. ^{[7] [8]} Upon arrival, the fire crew found a fire burning inside a vat that firefighters assumed to be burning kerosene. The crew tried to suppress the fire with water, which resulted in the vat exploding due to metallic sodium being stored in the kerosene. Thirteen firefighters were injured, several of whom had critical injuries while one lost both ears and most of his face from the incident. At the time, such vats were not labelled with the materials they contained, so firefighters did not have the necessary information to recognize that hazardous materials were present, which required a specific response. In this case, sodium was able to react with water to release hydrogen gas and large amounts of heat.

The Charlotte Fire Department developed training to respond to fires involving hazardous materials, ensured that protective clothing was available to those responding, and expanded the fire prevention inspection program. Fire Marshal J. F. Morris developed the diamond-shaped placard as a marking system to indicate when a building contained hazardous materials. ^[9]

Stations and apparatus

As of January 2025 ^[update] this is the current list of stations and apparatus for the department: ^[10]

Neighborhood	Engine Company	Ladder Company	Rescue Company	Special Unit	Battalion Chief Unit
First Ward	Engine 1	Ladder 1	Rescue 11	Field Comm 1 & 2, MCP 1, Vent 1, Division Chief (Car 6, 7,8)	Battalion Chief 1
South End	Engine 2	Ladder 2 relocated to 43
Rama	Engine 3	Tower 3
Fourth Ward (Uptown)	Engine 4 Engine 11	Ladder 4
Wesley Heights	Engine 5			Brush 5
Myers Park	Engine 6
NoDa	Engine 7
Plaza Midwood	Engine 8			Rehab 1
Providence Township	Engine 9			Tanker 9
Camp Greene	Engine 10		Rescue 10	Dive 10	Battalion Chief 3
Graham Heights	Engine 11 relocated to 4		Rescue 11 relocated to 1	Dive 11	Battalion Chief 9
Madison Park	Engine 12
South Hoskins	Engine 13	Ladder 13		Hazmat 13
Cotswold	Engine 14
Shamrock	Engine 15
South Park	Engine 16	Ladder 16
Charlotte Douglas International Airport East	Engine 17	Tower 17 (Enters service November 2025)		Blazes 1, 2, 5, & 14	Battalion Chief 8
Washington Heights	Engine 18	Tower 18
Landsdowne	Engine 19
Starmount	Engine 20	Ladder 20 (Enters service 9/28/25).		Brush 20	Battalion Chief 5
Paw Creek	Engine 21			Brush 21 & Foam 21
Derita	Engine 22			Tanker 22
Hickory Grove	Engine 23	Ladder 23
Carmel Village	Engine 24	Ladder 24
Oakdale	Engine 25			Foam 25	Battalion Chief 6
Ayrsley	Engine 26	Tower 26
University City	Engine 27	Tower 27			Battalion Chief 2
Northlake	Engine 28	Ladder 28
Idlewild South	Engine 29			Brush 29
Whippoorwill Lake	Engine 30
Highland Creek	Engine 31	Ladder 31		Brush 31
Ballantyne	Engine 32	Ladder 32		Hazmat 32
Shuffletown	Engine 33	Ladder 33		Deluge 33, Tanker 33
Newell	Engine 34			Decon 34, Hazmat 34
Withrow Downs	Engine 35			Tanker 35
Mallard Creek	Engine 36			MOC 1
Steele Creek	Engine 37 Engine 90			Tanker 37
Withers Cove	Engine 38			Dive 38, Fire Boat 38
The Arboretum	Engine 39	Ladder 39			Battalion Chief 7
Wilgrove	Engine 40	Ladder 40		Tanker 40
Charlotte Douglas International Airport West				Blazes 41, 42, & 47
Eastland	Engine 42, Engine 65				Battalion Chief 4
Clanton Park	Engine 43	Ladder 2		USAR 1, USAR 2
River District	Engine 44
Hidden Valley		Ladder 45
Beatties Ford Road / Miranda Road	Engine 46
Charlotte Douglas International Airport

See also

• Fire Station No. 2 (Charlotte, North Carolina)
• Palmer Fire School

References

1. "FY2015 Strategic Operation Plan" (PDF). City of Charlotte. Retrieved April 24, 2015.^{[ permanent dead link ‍]}
2. "Operations". Charlotte Fire Department. Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
3. Chrisman, Spencer (July 16, 2024). "Firefighters extinguish 2-alarm fire at brewery in NoDa". www.wbtv.com.
4. "Firefighters contain 2-alarm fire at Heist Brewery in NoDa". July 17, 2024.
5. "About Us". Charlotte Fire Department. Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
6. "History". Charlotte Fire Department. Archived from the original on April 16, 2015. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
7. "Fact Friday 153 - Charlotte's Haz-Mat History". 704 Shop. June 22, 2018. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
8. "July marks 62 years since Charlotte Fire invented Haz-Mat safety measure". Queen City News. June 28, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
9. "History of the Charlotte Fire Department" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 7, 2023. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
10. "Stations". Charlotte Fire Department. Archived from the original on May 13, 2015. Retrieved April 24, 2015.