About Us

Firefighters in front of Fire Truck

OUR MISSION

The Durham Fire Department endeavors to prevent or minimize the harmful effects of fires, medical emergencies, and other types of dangerous events.

COMMITTING OUR LIVES TO SAVING YOURS

The City of Durham is home to approximately 300,000 residents. To protect and serve our residents and visitors that the City hosts daily, the Durham Fire Department employs over 400 personnel. Approximately 90% of our personnel serve in operations.
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Services

We do so much more than fight fire! Check out some of the interesting information below.

  • More than 65% of our calls are Emergency Medical Services calls. All of our sworn firefighters hired after 2010 are required to earn Advanced Emergency Medical Technician certification. We currently have 150+ Basic EMTs and more than 200 Advanced EMTs.
  • We conduct approximately 9000 building inspections annually for fire hazards to ensure that they meet minimum NC Fire Code requirements.
  • We will assist you in car seat installation.  Book your appointment here.
  • We invest hours in territorial studies, learning the best routes throughout the district so that we can respond quickly to emergencies.
  • We regularly inspect City fire hydrants.
  • We keep our stations clean and our apparatus ready to respond by performing daily inspections.
  • We continuously train. Our sworn employees must complete over 200 hours each year in drills, classes, and independent study.

What We Do

  • Fire Prevention - Includes fire code enforcement, community risk reduction, and fire investigation. Community Service and Public Education are an integral part of our Fire Prevention Division. 
  • Emergency Response – Includes fire suppression, emergency medical incident stabilization, occurrences of hazardous materials release, and technical rescue incidents including swift-water rescue.
  • Technical Rescue Team – Rescues victims entrapped and/or injured beyond the scope of fire or emergency medical-specific operations.
  • Hazardous Materials Team - Responds to the release of known and unknown materials into the environment.