Orange County Fire Authority

The Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) is the agency that provides fire protection and emergency medical services for unincorporated areas of Orange County, California and cities that contract OCFA's services.

OCFA serves over 1,360,000 residents in 22 cities and unincorporated areas from 60 fire stations.

Headquarters
The OCFA Headquarters is located in the city of Irvine.

Operations Department
The Operations Department is responsible for directly rendering aid to the community. In 2006, OCFA responded to 79,718 incidents within its jurisdiction and 4,084 mutual aid calls. The department is split into five geographic divisions numbered I–V.


 * Division I
 * Division I is located in the western area of Orange County. It covers the communities of Buena Park, Cypress, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, Stanton, and Westminster; and the unincorporated communities of Midway City, Rossmoor, and Sunset Beach.  Division I is covered by two battalions, numbers 1 and 8, from fifteen fire stations.  OCFA's helicopter fleet, based out of the Fullerton Municipal Airport, is part of Division I.


 * Division II
 * Division II is located in the central area of Orange County. It covers the city of Irvine; along with the John Wayne Airport and University of California, Irvine.  Division II is covered by battalion 5 from nine fire stations.


 * Division III
 * Division III is located in the southern and eastern areas of Orange County. It covers the cities of Dana Point, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, San Clemente, and San Juan Capistrano; along with the unincorporated communities of Coto de Caza, Ladera, Las Flores, Modjeska Canyon, Trabuco Canyon, and Talega.  Division III is covered by two battalions, numbers 6 and 7, from eighteen fire stations.


 * Division IV
 * Division IV is located in the northern area of Orange County. It covers cities of Placentia, Tustin, Villa Park, and Yorba Linda; along with the unincorporated communities of El Modena, Orange Park Acres, Santiago Canyon, Silverado Canyon, and North Tustin.  Division IV is covered by two battalions, numbers 2 and 3, from twelve fire stations.


 * Division V
 * It covers the cities of Aliso Viejo, Irvine, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, and Mission Viejo. Division V is covered by battalions 4 & 5 from sixteen fire stations.


 * Operations Support Division
 * The Operations Support Division consists of the Emergency Communications Center (ECC), Community Volunteer Services (CVS) Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Emergency Planning and Coordination (EPAC), Special Operations Section, and the Operations Training and Safety Section.


 * The ECC houses the Dispatch Center which routes all emergency requests to individual OCFA units. The ECC also contains the Mapping and Geo-file Group which maintains and distributes the maps and station information that allows dispatchers to route calls to the correct station and provides fire stations with up-to-date maps of their coverage area.

Fire Prevention Department
The Fire Prevention Department is dedicated to proactively protecting the public by identifying and analyzing community risk; educating and informing; and developing, implementing, and enforcing regulations.


 * Investigation Services Section
 * This section investigates and reviews fires to determine appropriate intervention strategies.


 * Planning & Development Services Section
 * The Planning & Development Services Section reviews all architectural blue prints, development plans, and proposals submitted in OCFA's jurisdiction to ensure that they meet fire protection requirements for buildings and developments.


 * Risk Analysis & Mitigation Evaluation
 * This section identifies communities’ risks and creates appropriate mitigation strategies to improve the performance and effectiveness of community safety efforts.


 * Safety & Environmental Services Section (SESS)
 * SESS conducts fire safety inspections, enforces applicable fire codes and ordinances, gathers and maintains inventories of chemicals stored, handled, and used within the OCFA jurisdiction and coordinates hazardous materials emergency plans.

EMS
There are 10 paramedic vans, 19 paramedic engines, 1 paramedic truck, 23 paramedic assessment engines, 3 paramedic assessment trucks, 10 BLS engines, and 9 BLS trucks staffed 24/7 by career personnel. 4 BLS engines, 8 BLS patrols, and 6 BLS squads staffed by reserve personnel on an on-call basis. and 3 emergency transports staffed by department personnel and numerous other private ambulance staffed by private personnel that provide transport and emergency medical services to all of the areas of Orange County covered by the Orange County Fire Authority.


 * Note: BLS = Basic Life Support.

Standard response
The standard OCFA response for a structure fire is 3 engine companies, one truck company, one paramedic van and one Battalion Chief.

Budget
The department has a General Fund budget of US$220.8 million for the 2006/07 fiscal year.

History
Prior to 1980 the California Department of Forestry (now known as CAL-Fire) operated the Orange County Fire Department under contract. In 1980 then California Governor Jerry Brown cancelled the California Department of Forestry contract with the Orange County Fire Department against the wishes of Orange County. As a result, Orange County operated the Orange County Fire Department (OCFD) beginning May 16, 1980. Due to the incorporations of new cities and additional cities contracting with the County Fire Department, in 1991 the OCFD began exploring the possibility of reorganizing as a separate agency - first as a Special District and then as a Joint Powers Authority. The County filed for bankruptcy in 1994, which further encouraged Orange County Fire Department to reorganize as a JPA, known as the Orange County Fire Authority.