Seattle Fire Department
Municipal agency in Washington, US
The Seattle Fire Department provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the city of Seattle, Washington, United States. The department is responsible for an area of 142.5 square miles (369 km2), including 193 miles (311 km) of waterfront, with a population of 713,700. There is a total of 1,065 employees with 981 uniformed personnel and 84 civilian employees.
History
The Seattle Fire Department started as a volunteer fire department that was taken over by the City of Seattle on April 11, 1884. On June 6, 1889, the Great Seattle Fire broke out and destroyed over 64 acres (26 ha) of the city. Insurance investigators charged the city with not having adequately trained firefighters to provide protection for the residents. As a result, the Seattle Fire Department was officially established on October 17, 1889, as a paid professional department.
The Seattle Fire Department is contracted with American Medical Response for basic life support transport.
Fire stations and apparatus
As of April 2021, the department operates out of 34 fire stations spread across the city.
Apparatus types and callsigns
Engine (E)
Ladder (L)
Aid Unit "Aid Car" - Basic Life Support (A)
Air / Mobile Air Compressor Unit (AIR)
Battalion Chief (B)
Chaplain Unit (CHAP)
Command, Control & Communication Unit (COM)
Decontamination Unit (DECON)
Deputy Chief of Operations (DEP)
EMS/Paramedic Supervisor (M44 / M45)
Fire Boat (FB)
Rescue Boat (RB)
Fire Chief (234)
Assistant Chief of Operations (89)
Fire Investigation Unit (FIU) / Fire Marshal (MAR)
Hazardous Materials Unit (HAZ)
Hose / Foam Wagon (HOSE)
Marine Unit (MRN)
Medic - Advanced Life Support (M)
Medical Ambulance Bus (MAB)
Metropolitan Medical Strike Team (MMST)
Mobile Ventilation Unit (MVU)
Mass Casualty Incident Unit (MCI)
Power/CO2 Unit (P)
Public Information Officer (PIO)
Reserve Aid - BLS Apparatus (All "80 Series" Designations) (A8_)
Reserve Battalion Chiefs (B2_)
Reserve Engine Apparatus (All "80 Series" Designations) (E8_)
Reserve Ladder Apparatus (All "80 Series" Designations) (L8_)
Reserve Medic - ALS Apparatus (All "80 Series" Designations) (M8_)
Reserve Heavy Rescue Apparatus (All "80 Series" Designations) (R8_)
Seattle Police Harbor Patrol Boat (Responds with Seattle Fire Department for most marine incidents) (PTRL)
Squad & Wildland Unit (S)
Staff & Incident Command System (ICS) Support Unit (STAF)
Safety Chief (SAFT)
Heavy Rescue Unit (R)
Rehabilitation (REHAB)
Notable incidents
Great Seattle Fire
On June 6, 1889, the Great Seattle Fire broke out in a cabinet shop located at the corner of 1st Avenue and Madison Street.
The public source identifies “Seattle Fire Department” as municipal agency in Washington, US. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Seattle, Fire and Department.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7442098. VIAF identifies the subject as 125618715. The Library of Congress control number is n90665720. Authority coordinates are 47.600, -122.332. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1884, 1889 and 2021.
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This entry incorporates text from “Seattle Fire Department” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.