About Contra Costa County Fire Protection District
If you live, work, or regularly pass through Contra Costa County, chances are, we are your fire “department.”
The District is a recognized fire service leader providing fire and emergency medical services to more than a million people across a 804 square-mile area in and around the 20 cities of the county.
Dispatchers in our state-of the-art communications center are the ones answering your 9-1-1 calls for fire and emergency services and, in most cases, it is our firefighters, engines and trucks that respond to your calls for fire and medical emergencies. Countywide, the ambulances of our one-of-a-kind ambulance transport program provide medical transport of all types.
In 2017, we responded to nearly 74,000 fire and EMS emergencies and provided expert medical care in the conduct of more than 75,000 ambulance transports. The District, with 25 fire stations and nearly 400 employees, is dedicated to the preservation of life, property and the environment.
With over 11,000 structures burned and over 60 lives lost, last year’s wildland fire season was one of the most devastating on record. The Fire District is preparing for another intense fire season and is working with state officials to make changes to our mutual aid system in order to position resources before incidents occur. We will also staff our bulldozer during the wildland season and continue to provide firefighting staff and equipment on the Sheriff’s helicopter for aerial support.
Although we are certainly aware of the wildland fire season that impacts us every year, the Fire District is never really out of a fire season. Last year, we continued to have a high number of structural fires, with an average of one per day, many of which required multiple alarms to control. Structure fires are one of the most dangerous emergencies we respond to, and they cause a large number of both firefighter and civilian deaths each year.
Our firefighters are some of the best, and they work hard to keep property and life loss to a minimum. Although we have been very fortunate in not having any firefighter fatalities in the last several years, we have experienced many major injuries that have brought an early end to the careers of some of our employees.
A large number of our fires are arson, and our Fire Investigation Unit keeps very busy. Our investigators are armed peace officers who specialize in the detection of fire causation. They investigate between 40-50 fires each month and work very closely with our district attorney to assure that the arrests they make are prosecuted.