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Current Level of Service
The St. John's Fire District provides a level of service based on fire prevention, education and fire suppression. The goal of the department is to minimize the risk to the community through education and prevention and for all risks which are uncontrollable. Suppression will be utilized for mitigation. The St. John's Fire District has allocated its suppression resources based on geographic locations in an effort to provide adequate response to areas of each island. The St. John's Fire District has created its own set of response packages for each island and each type of emergency which may be encountered. These response packages are maintained in the Communication Center and are evaluated on an annual basis.
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Response Times
The St. John's Fire District realizes the importance of establishing response times giving it the ability to measure the performance of the delivery of services to the community and the citizens served. Response data is collected on a monthly basis and reviewed to ensure the efficiency of the service provided. Due to the geographic makeup of the District, the St. John's Fire District has been broken into four geographic districts. they are District One which consists of Johns' Island, District Two which consists of Seabrook Island, District Three which consists of Wadmalaw Island and District Four which consists of Kiawah Island. Each of these districts poses response issues which are unique to each island. Therefore the St. John's Fire District has created a response standard for each district. These times are being built from the time an emergency is called into the communication center until the first enroute unit arrives on scene.
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Special Operations
The St. John's Fire District is prepared to handle all types of emergencies some of which may require specialized training, as well as the use of specialized equipment. The St. John's Fire District, being a proactive district, has taken steps to be prepared to provide services in the following specialized areas: Hazardous Materials Response and Marine Rescue. The district is also evaluating the need for providing services for High Angle Rescue and Trench Rescue.
Hazardous Materials Response
All fire suppression members of the St. John's Fire District are certified to the level of Hazardous Materials Operations meaning they can respond to all hazardous materials incidents and setup an isolation perimeter to deny entry and to assist with evacuation of the surrounding area. The St. John's Fire District has a paid hazardous materials response team. These members ( trained to the technician level ) are required to receive additional training annually and are on call 24 hours a day. There are five paid members per shift and several are on duty at all times. The hazardous materials trailer ( cross-manned by officers and firefighters on shift ) will require thirty minutes to one hour to respond to a hazardous materials incident. The district does provide mutual aid to other districts requesting our hazardous materials team and equipment.
Marine Rescue Response
All fire suppression members of the St. John's Fire District are trained to the level of marine operations meaning they can check off the boats, prepare the boats for launch, transport the boats to the marina or boat landing and launch the boats once certified boat team members arrive. Each shift has several trained boat team members who are trained in the complete operations of both boats in the district. Each boat team member is required to receive additional training in marine operations as well as knowing the waterways around the islands. The marine team is cross-manned with fire suppression personnel on duty and requires thirty minutes to one hour to respond to marine emergencies. The district does provide mutual aid to other districts requesting our marine team.
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