Fire Services

Introduction

The City of Niagara Falls covers an area of some 81 square miles. It is a unique Community, from the perspective of Fire Services, which includes heavy industry, light industry, large tourist/commercial sector, heavily traveled highways, the Niagara River and gorge and a busy rail service. These components present some special challenges to Fire Services.

The Niagara Falls Fire Services is a modern, fully equipped emergency service, under the direction of Fire Chief Lee Smith. The Fire Services operates as a Composite Department, with both full-time professional fire fighters (100) and volunteer fire fighters (100), each with their own separate areas of emergency response.

Emergency Plan

The City of Niagara Falls has developed an Emergency Plan as a tool to assist emergency and municipal services and officials in their emergency response activities. The plan has been made available in PDF format for information purposes.

Emergency Response

The full-time fire fighting crews are responsible for the central core of the City, from three strategically placed stations. These fire stations are located at 5815 Morrison Street (central section), 3401 Dorchester Road (northern section) and 7036 McLeod Road (southern section). Volunteer fire stations are located at 8696 Banting Avenue (former village of Chippawa - southeast), 11208 Sodom Road (former Township of Willoughby - south central) and 8061 Schisler Road (former Township of Crowland - southwest).
Fire Station Location Maps
Station 1 - 5815 Morrison Street
Station 2 - 7036 McLeod Road
Station 3 - 3401 Dorchester Road
Station 4 - 8698 Banting Avenue
Station 5 - 11208 Sodom Road
Station 6 - 8061 Schisler Road

Fire Services equipment includes 7 pumpers, 2 aerial trucks, 1 heavy rescue truck, 3 light rescue trucks, 2 water tankers, 2 rescue boats and other support vehicles.

Fire Services responds to a wide range of emergency responses including fires, hazardous materials incidents, medical assistance, water rescues, industrial/commercial accidents, vehicle accidents and rescues from the Niagara Gorge. Our rescue procedures for the Niagara Gorge are unique and involve repelling teams and specially designed rescue elevating equipment. Niagara Falls Fire Services Auto Extrication Team has competed in several competitions involving fire departments from Canada and the United States, with a great deal of success. These competitions have provided the Niagara Falls Fire Services with the latest equipment and techniques in extricating victims from vehicle accidents.

Training Division

The Training Division supervises all aspects of training from new fire fighter recruits to sophisticated fire fighting procedures. Training includes fire fighting techniques and operations, hazardous materials incidents, auto extrication, first aid, CPR (cardio pulmonary resuscitation), semiautomatic defibrillators, water rescue and other emergency activities. The Division has a newly constructed Training Tower to simulate fire conditions, a fully equipped classroom and an extensive library and video resources. The Training Division offers assistance to business and industry in fire training and emergency response on our training grounds or on-site with clients.

Fire Prevention Division

Communications Division

The communications centre is among the most modern in Ontario, complete with Computer Aided Dispatch, computerized fire alarm monitoring, CD Rom Hazardous Materials Information and other technical advances. Emergency calls are received through the Niagara Region Emergency 9-1-1 telephone system. This system is computer enhanced providing quick access to persons calling for help and automatic location identification. The Niagara Falls Fire Services coordinates an emergency radio system for city wide emergencies, connecting Fire Services, Police Department, City Hall, Greater Niagara General Hospital and the City of Niagara Falls Service Centre.

Administration (Fire Chief Lee Smith)

Chief Smith coordinates all activities of Fire Services. Niagara Falls Fire Services is known as one of the most progressive Fire Departments in Ontario. A succession of Fire Chiefs, including Chief Smith, have provided the citizens and visitors to Niagara Falls with the latest in equipment and technology as well as a highly trained staff in Fire Fighting, Fire Prevention, Communications and Training fields.

Critical Incident Stress Management

CISM stands for Critical Incident Stress Management which was developed to help mitigate the effects of critical incident stress common to emergency service workers. To find out more about what Niagara Falls is doing, visit the CISM page.