The York Fire Department is one of two fire departments that protect the town of York, Maine. The York Fire Department covers approximately ½ of the 56 Square Miles that York Encompasses. The town has somewhere close to 14,000 year-round residents. The two fire districts have the town split nearly in half with York Fire Department covering the south side of York, including York Harbor and a portion of the west side of town including Chases Pond Rd. and Rt. 91 all the way to the Eliot Line. The York Fire Department also protects the following:
– A large Hospital – A fully occupied nursing facility – Several elderly housing units – Two Elementary Schools – The Middle School – The High School – Several large shopping centers – Several industrial facilities – 12 miles of Interstate Highway – Multiple housing developments – A large rural wooded area
The two fire departments operate under a joint-response system to all structure fires, smoke in the building, as well as any fire call at York’s 4 schools, hospital buildings, and nursing facility. York Fire Department is a 60 member combination department consisting of 4 full-time career members that work one at a time on a rotating schedule, and 57 paid on-call & all-volunteer members including Chiefs, Officers, Firefighters and Support Staff.
The York Fire Department responded to approximately 1,200 calls in 2023. Of those calls for service, many of them were EMS runs. Many of York’s Firefighters are EMT’s, because much of any Fire Department’s call volume are for EMS and York is no exception. York Fire Department runs with the York Ambulance Association with EMT Basic services and to provide initial on scene stabilization. York Ambulance provides ALS transport to either York or Portsmouth Hospital.
All alarms for the Village and Beach stations are transmitted over 154.265 MHz via a repeater system. The communications center is located in the Police Station in the York Beach fire district.
The York Fire Department also does Hazardous Materials (Haz-Mat) at the operations level, meaning that we take a defensive role at a Haz-Mat scene while awaiting the arrival of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard FD Haz-Mat Technicians who will do the actual hazard mitigation at the scene of such incidents.
The York Fire Department is well known for the SMART Truck (Southern Maine Advanced Rehab Team) operated by the York Fire Department Auxiliary. This team consists of people who want to help out in some way, but may not have an interest or physical ability to be an actual firefighter. They help out in ways such as running the truck’s bottle cascade system, coffee machine, gas grill, gas stove, microwave, refrigerator, fax machine, telephone, portable radio battery charging, and 2 misters (a fan that blows mist to cool firefighters on hot days). The vehicle is invaluable on any fire scene and is frequently called to area fires in many neighboring towns, and even in towns that don’t border York.
The York Fire Department is always looking for members to join the ranks. We encourage anybody who has reached their 18th birthday and is interested to come down to the fire station and fill out an application. The York Fire Department trains every Thursday night of the month, with the first Thursday being a business meeting. Potential applicants who may not be suited for firefighting duties may be selected for Auxiliary positions on our very popular Rehab (SMART) truck. Membership is capped at 60 firefighters and 20 auxiliary positions, but there are always spots open.