Type Department: Career
Structure: Council/Manager/Fire Chief
ISO: 2
Number of Stations: 12
Number of Apparatus: Pumpers: 9 | Aerials: 5 | Specialty: 3
Do you provide EMS? Yes
What type: BLS ALS FR
Specialty Operations: (list all) Hazmat, Rescue, Wildland, RIT
Annual Budget: $36 Million
Area Covered Square miles: 45
Population: 95,000
Total Runs: 11,000
Chief: Scott Burnette
Chief Officers: Chris Budzinski, Mike Coggins, Kelly Hinz, Patrick Crudup, Wes Rogers, Jeremy Knighton, Shane Mackey, Shane Valliere, Adam Wilson, Clint Brown, Adam Hoffman, Bjorn Larson, Nathan Miller, Rich Rauschenbach, Nathan Rogers, Erik Stalte, Barnaby Raikes, Lindsey Glover, Bill States, Amy Pollard
Other Officers: 7 Safety/Training Officers, 25 Captains, 27 Lieutenants
Number of Members: 293
Address: 100 Court Plaza, Asheville, NC 28802
Web site: www.ashevillenc.gov/fire
Phone: 828-259-5636
Community Outreach: Citizens Academy, Summer Camp, Growth through Opportunity, Firefighters for Literacy, collaboration with community college and high schools for fire programs
Top Two concerns in your community: Infrastructure and service demand
What are you doing for fundraising? We are funded through our tax base.
What upgrades will you make in your department this year? We are placing a tractor-drawn rescue apparatus in service and opening station 13.
What special hazards or unique businesses in your community? 1920s era architecture and fire protection systems, Grove Park Inn, which is an Inverted high rise, Biltmore Estate
What problems in your department would you like feedback from others? Increased service demand with limited resources
List anything else you are proud of and would like the readers to know about. Are you doing anything special in Recruitment, Retention, or anything unique other departments could benefit from? We have implemented the Blue Card incident command system to increase firefighter safety and consistency in incident mitigation. We have increased staffing to always have a minimum of four firefighters on our engines and ladders. We have focused on our firefighters’ physical and behavioral health using the Resilient Mind program, embedded behavioral health clinicians, and cancer prevention initiatives.
With the challenges of locating housing in the area, the department has collaborated with AB Tech to provide temporary housing to firefighters until a more permanent solution can be made. As a result, trainees can have some housing stress removed before entering the academy.
