Indianapolis Fire Department
File:Indianapolis Fire Department Logo.png | |
Our Family Serving Your Family | |
Operational area | |
---|---|
Country | United States |
State | Indiana |
City | Indianapolis |
Agency overview[1][2] | |
Established | November 14, 1859 |
Annual calls | 95,603 (2014) |
Employees | 1,205 (2014) |
Annual budget | $145,068,571 (2014) |
Staffing | Career |
Fire chief | Ernest Malone |
EMS level | ALS |
IAFF | 416 |
Facilities and equipment[1] | |
Battalions | 7 |
Stations | 44 |
Engines | 43 |
Trucks | 19 |
Tillers | 1 |
Platforms | 7 |
Squads | 7 |
Rescues | 9 |
Ambulances | 42 (provided by IEMS) |
Tenders | 3 |
HAZMAT | 2 |
Wildland | 1 |
Rescue boats | 4 |
Light and air | 5 |
Website | |
Official website | |
IAFF website |
The Indianapolis Fire Department (IFD) provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the city of Indianapolis, Indiana. In total the department is responsible for 278 square miles (720 km2).[1]
Contents
History
The first fire department in Indianapolis was not founded until June 20, 1826. It was a volunteer department that had to use a church bell for alarms, and had only ladders and leather buckets to fight fires. This was seventeen months after the first recorded fire in Indianapolis occurred on January 17, 1825, which took place across the street from the county courthouse in a tavern.[3]
In 1835, a law was passed requiring the purchase of an engine, along with better equipment, to be partially funded by the state and partially by the city, in order to protect the Indiana statehouse. From this, the Marion Fire, Hose, and Protection Company was established. An additional volunteer company was founded in 1841 and there were eight total volunteer companies in Indianapolis by 1859. Collectively, 600 men were volunteers in these eight companies, and although unpaid, they did receive perks such as immunity from being called on juries or militia duty, and not having to pay poll taxes or taxes for roads.[4]
The volunteer companies were rather political, and tended to express their views freely. They were also known to break into brothels and freely use their hoses on the clientele and the interior walls, wrecking the places; this was done not for moral reasons, but rather, to amuse themselves.[5] As a result, the Indianapolis City Council established a paid force on November 14, 1859, so that the council could have control over Indianapolis' fire protection, which it did not have over the volunteers. The Indianapolis Fire Department began with a hook and ladder company and two hand engines, but would in 1860 gain their first steam engine.[6]
The paid firemen had no days off, were not allowed to leave their post except for one meal, and were seldom allowed to leave the firehouse unless on fire business or a family emergency. An ordinance in 1859 made it illegal to give firemen alcoholic beverages. Their clothes were irregular; uniforms were not worn until 1874, with a regulation uniform established in 1928. Firemen had to buy their own uniforms until 1943, when a $60 clothing allowance was established. An attempt to remove politics from the fire department was not very successful; it was necessary to mandate that the department staff be half Republican and half Democrat, and the role of fire chief was based on political affiliation and family contacts.[7]
The first dog to discover arson for the Indianapolis Fire Department was acquired in July 1993.[8]
Mergers with township fire departments
In 2007, the process began to absorb some of the fire departments in the eight townships in Marion County other than Center Township that were not previously part of the IFD coverage area. As of 2014, five of the eight township fire departments have merged with IFD:[9]
- Washington Township, January 2007
- Warren Township, July 2007
- Perry Township, August 2009
- Franklin Township, July 2010
- Lawrence Township, January 2011
Townships still retaining their own fire departments as of 2014:
Operations
There are currently fourteen Divisions of Operations within the Indianapolis Fire Department: Communications, Emergency Operations, Emergency Medical Services, Executive Services, Finance and Pension, Fire Investigations Section, Fire and Life Safety, Homeland Security/Special Operations and Training, Quartermaster, Information Technology, Media Relations, Safety, Support Services, and USAR Indiana Task Force One.[10]
USAR Task Force 1
The Indianapolis Fire Department is the founding member of one of the 28 FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force.[11] Indiana Task Force 1 (IN-TF1) is made up of members of multiple fire departments in Marion County.[12]
Indianapolis EMS
Ambulance transport in the city of Indianapolis is provided by Indianapolis Emergency Medical Services, a division of the Indianapolis Department of Public Safety. This division was formed to unify care that was previously being provided separately by both the Indianapolis Fire Department and Wishard Memorial Hospital.[13] As of 2013[update] the department operates 42 ambulances, with approximately 32 of them deployed during peak hours.[14] Fourteen of these ambulances are stationed at IFD fire stations.[15] While technically separate from the Fire Department, members of IEMS are also part of the IAFF Union 416.[16]
Stations and apparatus
Neighborhood | Engine | Truck | IEMS Medic | Special | Chief | Battalion | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Haughville | Engine 1 | Ladder 1 | Rescue 1 | 7 | [17] | ||
2 | Mitthoefer | Engine 2 | Medic 2 | 4 | [18] | |||
3 | Fountain Square | Engine 3 | Battalion 5 | 5 | [19] | |||
4 | Greenbriar | Engine 4 | Ladder 4 | 2 | [20] | |||
5 | Methodist Hospital | Engine 5 | Rescue 5 | Battalion 1 | 1 | [21] | ||
6 | Nora | Engine 6 | Ladder 6 | Boats 6 | 2 | [22] | ||
7 | Chatham Arch | Engine 7 | Tiller Ladder 7 | Rescue 7, Squad 7 Boats 7, Hovercraft 7 |
Safety 4 | 7 | [23] | |
8 | Millersville | Engine 8 | Safety 2 | 3 | [24] | |||
9 | Castleton | Engine 9 | Ladder 9 | Medic 9 | Rescue 9 | 2 | [25] | |
10 | Brightwood | Engine 10 | Platform Ladder 10 | Squad 10 | Battalion 3 | 3 | [26] | |
11 | Irish Hill | Engine 11 | 5 | [27] | ||||
12 | Crooked Creek | Engine 12 | Medic 12 | 1 | [28] | |||
13 | Westside Downtown | Engine 13 | Platform Ladder 13 | Hazmat 13, Squad 13 | Battalion 7 | 7 | [29] | |
14 | Children's Museum | Engine 14 | Ladder 14 | Tactical 14, Squad 14, Boats 14 | 1 | [30] | ||
15 | Southeastside | Engine 15 | Platform Ladder 15 | 5 | [31] | |||
16 | Meridian-Kessler | Engine 16 | 1 | [32] | ||||
17 | Avelon Hills | Engine 17 | Medic 17 | Battalion 2 | 2 | [33] | ||
18 | Central State | Engine 18 | Air Unit 18 | 7 | [34] | |||
19 | West Indianapolis | Engine 19 | Platform Ladder 19 | Decon 19, Foam 19 | 7 | [35] | ||
20 | Little Flower | Engine 20 | Ladder 20 | 3 | [36] | |||
21 | Clearwater | Engine 21 | Medic 21 | 2 | [37] | |||
22 | Fall Creek | Engine 22 | Platform Ladder 22 | 3 | [38] | |||
23 | University Heights | Engine 23 | Battalion 6 | 6 | [39] | |||
24 | Devington | Engine 24 | Medic 24 | 3 | [40] | |||
25 | Irvington | Engine 25 | Tactical Support 25 | 3 | [41] | |||
26 | Lindenwood | Engine 26 | 6 | [42] | ||||
27 | Brookside | Engine 27 | Ladder 27 | 5 | [43] | |||
28 | Geist | Engine 28 | Swift Rescue 28 | 2 | [44] | |||
29 | Garfield Park | Engine 29 | Ladder 29 | Air & Command 29
Squad 29 |
5 | [45] | ||
30 | Eagledale | Engine 30 | Ladder 30 | 1 | [46] | |||
31 | Fairgrounds | Engine 31 | Ladder 31 | Decon 31, Air Unit 31 | 1 | [47] | ||
32 | Broad Ripple | Squad 32 | 2 | [48] | ||||
33 | Far Westside | Engine 33 | 1 | [49] | ||||
34 | Edgewood | Engine 34 | Ladder 34 | Rescue 34, MIRV 34 | 6 | [50] | ||
35 | Southport | Engine 35 | Platform Ladder 35 | 6 | [51] | |||
36 | Oaklandon | Engine 36 | Medic 34 | 2 | [52] | |||
41 | Washington Square | Engine 41 | Medic 41 | 4 | [53] | |||
42 | South Warren | Engine 42 | Medic 42 | Tanker 42 | 4 | [54] | ||
43 | Eastgate | Engine 43 | Platform Ladder 43 | Rescue 43 | Battalion 4 | 4 | [55] | |
44 | Eastside | Engine 44 | Ladder 44 | Medic 44 | HazMat 44 | 4 | [56] | |
45 | Eastside | Engine 45 | Medic 45 | 4 | [57] | |||
52 | Acton | Engine 52 | Medic 52 | Tanker 52 | 6 | [58] | ||
53 | Bunker Hill | Engine 53 | Grass 53, Rescue 53 | 6 | [59] | |||
54 | Southern Franklin | Engine 54 | Medic 54 | Boats 54 | 6 | [60] | ||
55 | New Bethel | Engine 55 | Ladder 55 | Tanker 55 | 4 | [61] |
Notable incidents
Ramada Inn Air Crash and Fire
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The Ramada Inn Air Crash and Fire was an aircraft accident that occurred at the Airport Ramada Inn in Indianapolis, Indiana when a United States Air Force pilot failed to reach the runway and the plane crashed into a nearby Ramada Inn.[62] On the morning of October 20, 1987, a United States Air Force A-7D-4-CV Corsair II, serial 69-6207, sustained some sort of engine failure about 15 miles (24 km) southwest of the city at around 31,000 feet.[63] The pilot survived after ejecting but 9 people were killed in the hotel when the aircraft smashed into the side of the building.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Bodenhamer, David. The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis (Indiana University Press, 1994) pg.774
- ↑ Bodenhamer pg.774
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Bodenhamer pg.774, 775
- ↑ Bodenhamer pg.775, 776
- ↑ Bodenhamer pg.776
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ IFD Administration
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Indianapolis Star staff report, Indiana plane crashes, The Indianapolis Star Online, May 1, 2002, accessed October 8, 2006.
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