About Us

History

Organized in 1954, the York County Department of Fire and Life Safety, a suburban county fire and rescue department located in America's Historic Triangle (Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown) on the Virginia Peninsula, provides fire, rescue and emergency medical services to approximately 69,000 citizens and over 23,000 households in addition to daily workers, visitors, tourists, commuters and travelers.

Divisions

The department is comprised of career and volunteer members that operate out of a centrally located administration building, 6 strategically distributed fire stations, and a training facility located at the Dominion Virginia Power Yorktown Power Station. The department is made up of:
  • Administrative and Support Services Office
  • Fire and Rescue Operations Division
  • Office of Emergency Management
  • Prevention and Community Safety Division

Responsibilities

The Department of Fire and Life Safety is responsible for the management, direction and delivery of all non-emergency and emergency services for York County with the exception of law enforcement. The department provides a broad range of services including fire protection, plans review, code enforcement, fire inspections, fire investigations and public fire and life safety education.

The department coordinates the County's emergency management activities, provides fire suppression, emergency medical services, rescue services and hazardous materials responses. The department also provides:
  • Command and control of major emergencies
  • Enforcement of the state laws and local ordinances and regulations of the County of York pertaining to animal control and protection
  • Grant administration services
  • Information management services
  • Mass casualty incident management
  • Medical response to weapons of mass destruction and mass patient care
  • Professional fire and life safety training and training program management
  • Special events coordination
  • Technical rescue
  • Victim and occupant/owner assistance services
  • Water and dive rescue
The department is unique within the County government, in that all of its functions operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
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