Ventura County Fire Department

Who We Are

Composed of approximately 600 dedicated men and women, the Ventura County Fire Department is an all-hazard, full-service agency. We proudly provide fire protection, medical aid, rescue, hazardous materials response, and a variety of other services to the public. Formed in 1928 as a special district, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors acts as the fire department’s board of directors. These five elected supervisors appoint the fire chief and task him with providing fire protection services for the district. This includes Supervisors Matt LeVere, Linda Parks, Kelly Long, Bob Huber, Carmen Ramirez, and County Executive Officer Michael Powers.

What We Do

VCFD’s services are built around our mission of anticipating and responding to the dynamic public safety needs of our diverse community. This includes prevention and education, response and communication.

Prevention and Education:

Providing safety involves planning, prevention and education to ensure that our citizens and communities can protect their homes, property and businesses against fire. Thorough knowledge of risk mitigation and fire prevention techniques allows VCFD to build a foundation of safe practices through historical successes. VCFD employs multiple fire prevention, education and safety programs for children, adults and seniors. This includes fire code and regulation enforcement, plan reviews, home and business inspections, fire code permits, film permits, and an award-winning, nationally recognized Fire Hazard Reduction Program.

Response:

VCFD responds to calls from 33 strategically placed fire stations located throughout Ventura County. Our firefighters are trained to provide the highest level of firefighting, rescue and emergency medical care. In addition to fighting fires, we respond to medical emergencies, traffic accidents, land and water rescues, hazardous materials calls, environmental hazards, and a variety of public service requests.

In 2020, VCFD responded to more than 47,272 incidents, including:

35,304

Emergency Medical Calls

1,485

Fires

2,540

Rescue Calls

3,155

Public Service Calls

3,645

Alarm Calls

1,079

Hazardous Material Calls

64

Other Calls

129+

Calls per day

Communication:

VCFD makes it a priority to communicate with the public through our FCC dispatch center, public information office, which ensures that information is disseminated to the public for educational purposes and during emergencies, to our fire prevention counters, which help people determine how to protect their homes, property and businesses against fire.