damian848

I've seen this topic come up in the past and i'm not sure why it's always an issue. NFPA 1710 sets the standard for this. Directly quoted from the NFPA website: "...The majority of questions focus on two issues. One is staffing. How many firefighters should there be on a piece of fire apparatus? That question is easy to answer: For an engine company or ladder company, a minimum of four firefighters. For special service vehicles, the standard states the apparatus must be staffed with the appropriate personnel to accomplish the tasks that the company will be expected to perform in a safe manner. The second issue is response time. How quickly should the apparatus and firefighters get to the incident? NFPA 1710 says that the first company apparatus with appropriate staffing needs to arrive within a travel time of four minutes and that all companies assigned on the first alarm must arrive within an eight-minute travel time. The standard gives companies another minute for turnout time, which is the time to receive the alarm at the station, identify where they are going, get their protective clothing on, get on the apparatus, and start moving." It seems pretty clear that your response time should be as indicated above for 90% of the calls. Now i'm aware that NFPA 1710, Organization and Deployment of Fire Suppression Operations, Emergency Medical Operations, and Special Operations to the Public by Career Fire Departments, is just that, "for career fire departments" but volunteers should be held to similar standards. Response times should be taken until a full compliment of four (4) firefighters on an engine or truck arrive at the scene.