Boone County Fire Protection District

The Boone County Fire Protection District operates with a volunteer staff of approximately 200 firefighters. These firefighters are not paid to perform their functions with the Boone County Fire District. Many are employed in other vocations, some are self-employed and others are students. They give of their time and talents out of a strong desire and commitment to assist their fellow man in this noble calling. New, state of the art fire apparatus makes the firefighter's job easier. In addition to being issued all of the necessary protective clothing, all Boone County firefighters are equipped with pagers, which allows the organization to contact them when their services are needed in response to an emergency in Boone County. The paging system is also used to keep fire personnel apprised of a variety of other items such as road closures, training programs, weather advisories, etc. The area protected by the Boone County Fire District has been "subdivided" into response areas. These response areas are determined based on proximities to fire stations, road conditions, and local water supplies. A predetermined schedule of response criteria is established for each given subdivided area in the Fire District. Firefigthers arrive on the scene with their protective clothing and "gear up" before coming up to the the scene. Upon receipt of a request for emergency assistance by the Columbia/Boone County Joint Communications Center, a computer aided dispatch system determines which Fire District units and personnel are to be dispatched to the scene. Through a selective paging system, volunteer firefighters assigned to the respective station or stations being deployed to the scene of the emergency are notified of the emergency. Additional pertinent information is also provided indicating type of emergency, type and extent of fire or further information on a medical problem. All Fire District stations have residential facilities incorporated into the design. Volunteer firefighters reside in these stations and assist in rapid response of the fire apparatus to the scene of the emergency. Should none of the volunteer firefighters be in the station at the time of the alarm, other volunteer firefighters in the immediate area will respond to the fire station to drive the fire apparatus to the scene. Other volunteer firefighters, likewise, respond directly to the scene in their personnel vehicles. Some, following proper training and qualification, operate blue lights and sirens on their vehicles to facilitate their response. A strong attribute of Boone County’s volunteer system is the likelihood that volunteer personnel may be much closer to the scene of an emergency than the fire station, itself. It is very common for firefighters to arrive on the emergency scene prior to the fire apparatus. Capable of providing emergency medical care, rescue or limited firefighting activities, their early intervention often makes a significant difference in the outcome of an event. Our firefighters can typically be dressed and ready to go on the scene in less than 60 seconds. Once on the emergency scene, the incident commander organizes on-scene resources, using the Incident Command System, to best meet the determined tactical and strategic objectives. If units will be involved in the emergency for an extended period of time, other emergency apparatus will be moved to provide adequate coverage in those stations assigned to the emergency to insure continued coverage for additional emergencies.