Fire Suppression personnel provide fire protection, emergency rescue, and emergency medical First Responder Services to the community. These services are provided through the use of 2 Ladder Trucks, 7 engine companies, and 2 Rescue units located in 9 fire stations throughout the City. Suppression has a total of 120 firefighters who work on three shifts. Firefighters work an average of 56 hours every week and each shift is supervised by a Battalion Chief

Battalion Chief Bob Bangerter

Battalion Chief Paris Jenkins

Battalion Chief Russell Moore

The St. Joseph Fire Department has the collective ability to pump 100,000 gallons of water a minute through over 5½ miles of hose. The Fire Suppression Division is well prepared to deal effectively with almost any fire emergency.

In addition to fire protection, the Fire Department provides many other emergency services in the community. The Fire Department provides multiple forms of rescue services to the citizens of St. Joseph and surrounding areas.

Rescue situations that occur in St. Joseph involve people trapped in rivers and rapid streams, people immersed in broken ice on ponds and lakes, people ensnared in sewers and wells and people caught in the wreckage of vehicles. Rescues have occurred in highly elevated locations and sites under ground. We have extricated individuals caught in industrial machinery.

We train and prepare for these all of these situations. We are prepared to stabilize toxic chemical spills. The Fire Department also provides first responder emergency medical response to St. Joseph and the surrounding fire protection districts. We are prepared to deal with and stabilize life-threatening emergencies our citizens might face. We have been on duty during large floods providing rescue services to the community. The community has shown strong support for the Fire Department with convincing endorsements of fire related revenue elections, such as the C.I.P. tax.

Firefighters stay current on technique and equipment through an aggressive training program presented by our three training officers. Fire Department equipment is periodically updated, in part, by the community’s support of the C.I.P. tax. The initials C.I.P. stand for Capital Improvements Tax. The tax provides for replacement of fire vehicles and major repair of Fire Department buildings.

The damage from structure fires has decreased steadily for the last 20 years through our aggressive approach to fire incidents. The St. Joseph Fire Department has become 2.5 times more effective in fire incidents in the last 20 years based upon local fire alarm statistics.