Services
MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of the Ephrata Fire Department is to protect and preserve life and property from fire, medical or environmental emergencies through prevention, education, preparedness, and emergency response.
VISION
By embracing technology, diversity and individual talent, we will be recognized, within and beyond our community, as a fire department of progressive excellence.
CORE VALUES
- Service
- Bravery
- Safety
- Honor
- Dedication
- Preparedness
OUR MOTTO
Proud to Serve
Services provided by the Ephrata Fire Department include:
- Fire Suppression and Emergency Medical Services - the awesome responsibility of protecting the public from fire as well as many other types of emergencies. Besides fires, the response to medical aid requests and vehicle accidents constitutes a large portion of our daily response activities.
- Training - a very important component of department operations. Properly trained, a fire department can control and contain almost any situation with minimal damage and loss of life. Training in fire tactics is important. However, a firefighter must be trained in many other areas in order to control the situations that are encountered in day-to-day operations. For example, constantly being updated in medical procedures, hazardous materials response and bio terrorism... the list goes on and on. We make every effort to train to meet the needs of the community as the all hazard emergency service provider.
- Fire Prevention - preventing fires from occurring by aggressive enforcement and educating the public on all laws and ordinances relative to fire safety. This is accomplished by conducting inspections, issuing permits, following up on citizen complaints and fire company violation reports. Fire Prevention also reviews plans for new construction, additions, sprinkler and fire alarm system upgrades, and demolition of structures. Inspectors also monitor the installation and removal of underground and aboveground storage tanks. The Fire Prevention staff works closely with the City Building Department and WSP's Fire Inspectors to ensure fire safety and statutory compliance.
- Public Education - working closely with all ages of community members to increase their knowledge of what to do before an emergency occurs. The goal is to train our citizens what to do before, during, and after an emergency occurs. Before an incident, they are taught lessons such as checking and testing smoke detector, escape route planning, and behavior that may cause fire.
- Fire Investigation - determining the cause of fires and assisting in the investigation of other related incidents. Strong, aggressive investigations will decrease the number of incendiary fires as well as accidental fires. The identification of the cause and circumstances of how a fire occurred will often prevent a similar incident from happening again. The information that is discovered may be used for a new fire prevention and/or public education program to prevent an incident. EFD seeks to prosecute individuals responsible for intentional incendiary fires and threats to burn property, and seeks to help those in need of help.
STANDARD OF COVERAGE
As part of the Ephrata Fire Department's strategic planning process, our department recently completed a draft version of our Standard of Coverage. We introduce this document to the citizens of Ephrata as an opportunity to provide comments to help us improve our service delivery.
A Standard of Coverage is defined by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International as "Written policies and procedures that establish the distribution and concentration of fixed and mobile resources of an organization." It describes the deployment or "coverage" for a given community or area. A Standard of Coverage is more than a standard; it is a system that includes an analysis of risks and expectations to assist in making decisions on deployment issues.
A Standard of Coverage is very important to the Ephrata Fire Department and goes to the heart of the Department's approach to emergency service delivery. Included in this concept is the community risk assessment, fire company staffing, response time goals and analysis.
The Community Risk Assessment identifies both fire and non-fire risks and places those risks into certain categories.
Download
Standard of Coverage Document
PDF, 4.6MB