Camano Island Fire & Rescue (CIFR) has provided Fire Suppression, Medical and Rescue services to the residents of Camano Island since 1945. Originally three separate Fire Districts, an island-wide Fire District was formed in 1992. Since then, extremely rapid growth has increased Camano Island's population, number of structures and traffic. Consequently its demand for Fire & Rescue services has increased dramatically.
Growth:
Evidence of our growth can be found in the 100% increase in the number of responses between 1996 and 2003. This increase in demand has resulted in several major changes for Camano Island Fire & Rescue. In 1993 the first paid Fire Chief was hired and in 1998 the first paid firefighters were hired.
Currently our team consists of:
- 35 career firefighters and paramedic/firefighters
- over 20 part-time firefighters
- approximately 35 volunteer firefighters, and
- 10 career administrative and support employees.
We are also fortunate to have a full-time maintenance team and fabrication shop.
Facilities:
In addition to enabling Camano Island Fire & Rescue's ability to meet growing service demands, new Federal and State structural codes and safety requirements have made assessing all of Camano Island's fire facilities an urgent issue. Camano Island residents need to be confident that their fire and rescue personnel will be able to operate effectively in the event of a catastrophe such as a major earthquake. This can only happen if Camano Island's fire facilities are structurally able to withstand such an event.
The five elected Camano Island Fire Commissioners and the Fire Chief foresaw this need and requested bids from several firms to assess all Camano Island fire facilities and develop a Long Range Facilities Study. This study resulted in the recommendation of building upgrades for the Fire District to meet the critical fire suppression, medical, rescue and emergency management needs of Camano Island residents through the year 2020.