Fire services in York Region

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Fire services in the York Region of Canada are provided for and by each municipality. There are 35 fire stations across the region. Most services consist of full-time members, but some services have volunteer firefighters.

Contents

The departments in south York Region deal mostly with residential and commercial incidents. The northern departments deal with rural, residential and agricultural fire needs.

History

One of Vaughan Fire's first trucks Antique fire truck.jpg
One of Vaughan Fire's first trucks

Fire departments in York Region date back to the 19th century, and all were volunteer units. Later in the 20th century full-time fire departments were created. Some departments in the region still retain volunteer units. East Gwillimbury Fire was the last all-volunteer service in the region until 2008, when the first crew of career firefighters was hired. East Gwillimbury and Georgina still have some volunteer stations, but the Township of King is the only department which remains as an all-volunteer department, with a staff of 105 volunteers servicing King City, Nobelton and Schomberg.

Small local departments slowly merged to form large departments in the 1960s and 1970s. In 2001, York Region was planning to merge all fire services in the region into one large unit. [1] Resistance from firefighters and others prevented the plan from being implemented. This was attempted again in 2013 also with no outcome. [2]

The use of "Fire Department" gave way to "Fire and Emergency" as the firefighters' roles expanded in the 1990s.

Command

Richmond Hill Fire mobile command unit Richmond Hill Fire Command.jpg
Richmond Hill Fire mobile command unit
Markham Fire mobile command unit Markham Fire mobile command unit.jpg
Markham Fire mobile command unit
Vaughan Fire chief and platoon chief coordinating activities on site of a house fire in 2014 Vaughan Fire officials commanding an incident.jpg
Vaughan Fire chief and platoon chief coordinating activities on site of a house fire in 2014

Each department has their own Chief and senior officers (Deputy Chiefs). The command structure is for the most part similar in the fire services across the region:

Markham

King

Central York

East Gwillimbury

Georgina

Richmond Hill

Vaughan

Whitchurch-Stouffville

Rank

Operations

Even though Bradford West Gwillimbury is not part of York Region, Bradford West Gwillimbury Fire and Emergency Services uses the same numbering system for its apparatus (I.E.: Station 1 is numbered as 10-1)

Georgina

Town of Georgina Fire and Rescue
Agency overview
Established1978
Employees40 Fulltime Firefighters, 1 Training Officer, 3 Fire Prevention staff and 60 Volunteers
StaffingComposite - Full Time and volunteer
Fire chief Ron Jenkins
EMS level ALS & BLS
Facilities and equipment
Stations 3
Engines 3
Trucks 2
Rescues 2
Ambulances see York Region EMS
Tenders 4

Town of Georgina Fire and Rescue provides fire fighting services to the communities of Keswick, Ontario, Sutton, Ontario and Pefferlaw, Ontario. The department deals mainly with rural fire situations (residential, commercial and agriculture fires), but it has marine and hazmat capabilities. Georgina Fire and Rescue has a mix of full-time and volunteer staff with total strength of 90 personnel. A fleet of 11 apparatus are spread across 3 stations. Georgina Fire and Rescue was created from the merger of several local fire departments including Keswick Fire Department and Georgina Fire Department.

Georgina Fire Rescue launched a 34' Stanley Aluminium Fire and Rescue Boat in May 2020. At the time they are the only service with true firefighting capability (SCBA, Hose, Nozzles, etc) for operating on the south shore of the Lake. The Fireboat is designated as Marine 2. Marine 1 is the Georgina Fire Rescue Airboat utilized for Lake Rescue during the ice and winter season. The service is supported by York Regional Police in marine firefighting on Lake Simcoe by use of MU2 Naawig, a patrol boat equipped with a water nozzle.

East Gwillimbury

East Gwillimbury Emergency Services Department
Agency overview
Established1970
Employees27 per hall
StaffingVolunteer (Queensville 2 Full-time daytime weekdays)
Fire chief Phillip Dawson
EMS level ALS & BLS
Facilities and equipment
Stations 3
Engines 4
Trucks 1
Rescues 3
Ambulances see York Region EMS
Tenders 4

East Gwillimbury Emergency Services serves the communities of Holland Landing, Ontario, Mount Albert, Ontario and Queensville, Ontario. The fire service operates over an area of 238 square kilometres or 91.89 square miles (238.0 km2). The department has a full-time fire chief, fire prevention officer and training officer. In addition six full-time firefighters are on duty in two shifts during daytime hours in the Queensville firehall. All other firefighters are volunteers and each station has a staff of 27 and all must be residents of the Town of East Gwillimbury. The fire service is capable of handling a variety of situations, but it is mostly a rural fire service. This fire department responds to approximately 1000 emergency calls each year. Expected growth to East Gwillimbury will result in massive changes to the town's population and the change from a part-time paid on-call fire department to full-time staffed 24 hours in the near future. The service began as independent fire stations in 1970 and unified after 1997.

King Township

King Township Fire & Emergency Services
Agency overview
Employees150
StaffingVolunteer
Fire chief James Wall
EMS level ALS & BLS
Motto"Duty trust & honour
Facilities and equipment
Stations 3
Engines 3
Trucks 2
Squads 3
Rescues 1
Ambulances see York Region EMS
Tenders 5

King Township Fire & Emergency Services serves the communities of King City, Nobleton, and Schomberg. It serves an area of 333 square kilometres and a population of about 28,000 residents. The service is composed of volunteer fire fighters.

Central York Fire Services

Central York Fire Services
Agency overview
Established2002
Employees112 firefighters + 28 Company Officers + 4 Seniors Officers
StaffingFull Time
Fire chief Ian Laing
Facilities and equipment
Stations 5
Engines 9
Trucks 3
Ambulances see York Region EMS
Tenders 1

Central York Fire Services provides fire services to both the Town of Newmarket and the Town of Aurora. It has 112 firefighters, 28 Captains and 4 Platoon Chiefs on staff at five fire stations. The fire service was created from the amalgamation of the former Town of Newmarket Fire Department and Town of Aurora Fire Department in 2002. The service has 15 vehicles of which 12 are fire fighting ones.

Whitchurch–Stouffville

Whitchurch–Stouffville Fire Department
Agency overview
Established1898 (Village of Stouffville)
Employees64
StaffingComposite - Full Time and volunteer
Fire chief William (Bill) Snowball
EMS level ALS & BLS
Facilities and equipment
Stations 2
Engines 3
Trucks 1
Rescues 1
Ambulances see York Region EMS

Whitchurch-Stouffville Fire Department provides fire fighting services to Whitchurch–Stouffville. The services protects 38,000 residents with 24 full-time fire suppression staff, 2 full-time fire prevention Officers, training officer and a full-time administrative assistant. There are also 50 volunteer firefighters. The service has 10 vehicles in their fleet.

City of Vaughan

Vaughan Fire and Rescue
Agency overview
Established1971
Employees266
StaffingFull Time
EMS level ALS & BLS
MottoPride and Honour
Facilities and equipment
Stations 10
Engines 8
Trucks 1
Platforms 1
Quints 5
Rescues 2
Ambulances see York Region EMS

Vaughan Fire and Rescue Service provides fire and emergency needs to the communities in the City of Vaughan (Maple, Ontario, Kleinburg, Ontario, Concord, Ontario, Thornhill, Ontario west of Yonge Street and Woodbridge, Ontario). There are over 250 firefighters on staff all are full-time. The city did have volunteers in Woodbridge Station 7-3 and Kleinburg Station 7-4. Station 7-3 disbanded its volunteers in the early 2000s with the remainder of the volunteers being disbanded in 2013 with the closure of Station 7-4 in Kleinburg. The service deals with rural scenarios in the north / northwest and urban in the south part of the city.

Richmond Hill

Richmond Hill Fire & Emergency Services
Agency overview
Established1881
Employees172
StaffingFull Time
Fire chief Bryan Burbidge
EMS level ALS & BLS
Facilities and equipment
Stations 6
Engines 5
Trucks 1
Rescues 1
Ambulances see York Region EMS

Richmond Hill Fire & Emergency Services provides fire services to the Town of Richmond Hill. It has 140 fire fighters on staff at 6 fire stations. Richmond Hill also offers specialized technical rescue services including water and ice rescue, technical rope rescue, confined space rescue, trench rescue and hazardous materials response. Richmond Hill provides dispatch services to Georgina, East Gwillimbury, Central York, Whitchurch/Stouffville and Richmond Hill.

Markham

Markham Fire and Emergency Services
Agency overview
Established1970
Employees280
StaffingFull-time (since 1996)
Fire chief Chris Nearing
EMS level ALS & BLS
Facilities and equipment
Stations 9
Engines 11
Trucks 3
Rescues 1
Ambulances see York Region EMS

Markham Fire has 200 firefighters on staff and is responsible for fire support for the City of Markham, as well as Toronto/Buttonville Municipal Airport. The newest station is 9-9, which opened in February 2012. The service began as the Markham Village Fire Department (c. 1870s) and acquired Unionville Fire Department in 1964. The Markham Fire Department was created in 1970 and renamed with the current name in 2000. Volunteer fire members were disbanded in 1996. [3]

Markham Fire and Emergency Services provides fire protection to the following communities in the City of Markham:

Fire Chiefs

Georgina Island

Fire services on Fox Island, Georgina Island and Snake Island are provided by Georgina Island Fire Department under the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation. The department has two full time firefighters and numerous trained volunteers. [4]

Fire stations and apparatus

A Markham Fire pumper MarkhamFireEngine2.jpg
A Markham Fire pumper
A Richmond Hill Fire Technical Rescue unit Richmond Hill Fire truck.png
A Richmond Hill Fire Technical Rescue unit
Vaughan Fire pumper Vaughan Fire.jpg
Vaughan Fire pumper
A King Township Fire rescue King City fire truck.jpg
A King Township Fire rescue


York Region's fire apparatus use fire engine red as the base colour. Trim varies from yellow, white and blue.

Markham and Vaughan were one of a number of municipalities to have formerly used a yellow paint scheme.

APPARATUS DESIGNATIONS - The numbering works like this:

The apparatus numbers are pronounced by saying each digit individually. For example, 729 would be pronounced Seven-Two-Nine, NOT Seven Twenty Nine, and 849 would be pronounced Eight-Four-Nine, NOT Eight Forty Nine, and so on.

For units with 4 digits, such as Fire Prevention, Training, and spare apparatus, the last 3 digits are pronounced individually from the first digit. For example, 4401 would be pronounced Four-Four-Zero-One, NOT Forty-Four-O-One.

Station #MunicipalityEngine Company, Engine Rescue Company or
Pumper Company
Tanker UnitsAerial Company, Ladder Company or
Platform Company
Rescue Company,Rescue Engine Company,
Rescue Pumper Company or Tech Rescue Company
Miscellaneous or
Support Units
AddressNotes
1-4GeorginaEngine 141Tanker 144Platform 147Rescue Pumper 149Unit 140165 The Queensway South, KeswickCareer and volunteer staffing.
1-6GeorginaTanker 164Aerial 166Rescue Pumper 169Unit 16037 Snooks Road, SuttonCareer and volunteer staffing.
1-8GeorginaEngine 181
Engine 182
Tanker 184

Tanker 185

270 Pefferlaw Road, PefferlawVolunteer staffing.
1-9Georgina IslandPump 191Tanker 194Chief Joseph Snake Road
2-4East GwillimburyTanker 244Aerial 246Rescue Pumper 24919314 Yonge Street, Holland LandingVolunteer staffing.
2-6East GwillimburyEngine 261Tanker 264Rescue Pumper 26922 Princess Street, Mount AlbertVolunteer staffing.
Station rebuilt after fire in February 2014.
2-8East GwillimburyEngine 281Tanker 284Aerial 2861590 Queensville Sideroad, QueensvilleCareer and volunteer staffing.
3-4Township of KingEngine 341Tanker 344
Tanker 345
Ladder 346Rescue Pumper 3492045 King Road, King City
3-6Township of KingEngine 361Tanker 364
Tanker 365
Ladder 366Rescue Pumper 369Command 30
2x parade units
91 Proctor Road, Schomberg
3-8Township of KingEngine 381Tanker 384Rescue Pumper 382
Rescue 389
Parade unit5926 King Road, Nobleton
4-1Central YorkEngine 411
Engine 412
984 Gorham Street, NewmarketBuilt in 1992.
4-2Central YorkEngine 421
Engine 422
Platform 427125 McCaffrey Road, Newmarket
4-3Central YorkEngine 431
Engine 432
Haz-Mat 438
Support 40
Parade unit
220 Edward Street, AuroraBuilt in 1978.
4-4Central YorkEngine 441Tanker 444Aerial 4461344 Wellington Street East, AuroraBuilt in 2005.
4-5Central YorkEngine 451Aerial 456Chief 4-5 (Platoon Chief)
Car 4-5 (Spare command vehicle)
Utility 410
300 Earl Stewart Drive, AuroraBuilt in 2022. Department headquarters.
5-1Whitchurch-StouffvillePump 511Tanker 514Platform 517Rescue 519100 Weldon Road, StouffvilleBuilt in 2009.
Department headquarters.
5-2Whitchurch-StouffvillePump 521
Pump 522
Tanker 524
Tanker 525
Service 520
Parade unit
15400 Highway 48, BallantraeBuilt in 1999.
7-1VaughanEngine 711Aerial 716835 Clark Avenue West, ThornhillBuilt in 1981.
7-2VaughanEngine Rescue 721Rescue 729Utility 720
Chief 74 (Platoon Chief)
9290 Keele Street, MapleBuilt in 1966.
7-3VaughanEngine Rescue 731Platform 737Haz-Mat 738
Chief 7-3 (District Chief)
7690 Martin Grove Road, WoodbridgeBuilt in 2017.
7-4VaughanEngine Rescue 741Field Support unit835 Nashville Road, KleinburgOpened in 2020.
7-5VaughanEngine Rescue 759Tech Rescue 7582 Fieldstone Drive, WoodbridgeBuilt in 1997.
7-6VaughanEngine 766
Platform 767
Parade unit120 McCleary Court, ConcordBuilt in 1990.
7-7VaughanEngine Rescue 771Tanker 77440 Eagleview Heights, Woodbridge
7-8VaughanEngine 786111 Racco Parkway, ConcordBuilt in 2004.
7-9VaughanEngine 791Tanker 7949601 Islington Avenue, WoodbridgeBuilt in 2007.
7-10VaughanEngine 710-1Command 70110800 Dufferin Street, MapleBuilt in 2012.
8-1Richmond HillEngine 811Rescue 819Utility 810
Command 8-0
Command 8-3 (Platoon Chief)
191 Major Mackenzie Drive WestBuilt in 1978.
Named after Alfred D. Stong.
8-2Richmond HillEngine 821Tanker 824Rescue 829
Rescue 829B
13067 Yonge StreetBuilt in 1996.
Named after Robert G. Kennedy.
8-3Richmond HillAerial 836Aerial 896 (Reserve)1371 16th AvenueBuilt in 1989.
Named after Harold J. Mills.
8-4Richmond HillEngine 841Tanker 844Haz-Mat 8481365 Elgin Mills Road EastBuilt in 1999.
Named after Russell "Curly" Lynett.
8-5Richmond HillEngine 851Rescue 850
Engine 891 (Reserve)
150 High Tech RoadBuilt in 2001.
Named after Bert Cook.
8-6Richmond HillEngine 861Tanker 864101 Gamble RoadBuilt in 2012.
9-1MarkhamPumper 911Aerial 9167801 Bayview AvenueOpened in June 1990.
9-2MarkhamPumper 921Air/Light 920
Haz-Mat 928
Chief 97 (Battalion Chief - Special Operations)
10 Riviera DriveOpened in May 2004.
9-3MarkhamPumper 931Aerial 9836 (spare)2930 Major Mackenzie Drive EastOpened in July 2010.
9-4MarkhamPumper 941Pumper 9841 (Spare)7300 Birchmount RoadOpened in 1985.
9-5MarkhamPumper 951Platform 957Tech Rescue 959Personnel Carrier 950
Chief 96 (Battalion Chief - Technical Rescue)
316 Main Street UnionvilleOpened in 1978.
9-6MarkhamPumper 961Pumper 9861 (Spare)
2x parade units
5567 14th AvenueOpened in 1996.
9-7MarkhamPumper 971Pumper 9871 (Spare)
Parade unit
209 Main Street North, Markham VillageOpened in 1985.
9-8MarkhamPumper 981Tanker 984650 Bur Oak AvenueOpened in 2006.
9-9MarkhamPumper 991Aerial 996 (Spare)3255 Bur Oak AvenueOpened in 2012.

GEORGINA FIRE DEPARTMENT

Georgina Island Fire Department

Although not part of the York Region's fire services, the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation has their own fire and rescue capability.

EAST GWILLIMBURY EMERGENCY SERVICES

KING TOWNSHIP FIRE & EMERGENCY SERVICES

CENTRAL YORK FIRE SERVICES

WHITCHURCH-STOUFFVILLE FIRE & EMERGENCY SERVICES

VAUGHAN FIRE & RESCUE SERVICE

RICHMOND HILL FIRE & EMERGENCY SERVICES

MARKHAM FIRE & EMERGENCY SERVICES

See also

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References

  1. "Report No. 1 of the Fire Services Committee" (PDF). York Region. 28 June 2001. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  2. Queen, Lisa (8 November 2019). "York Region chair say it's time to look at regional fire department". Toronto Star. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  3. Persico, Amanda (25 February 2016). "Longtime Markham fire chief Bill Snowball retires".
  4. georginaisland.com/community-services/fire-police-services/