Thank you for visiting the Long Beach Fire Department's website.

I would like to say to our readers and to our Fire Department members:

March is a significant month in the history of Long Beach. It was 75 years ago in 1933 that the devastating Long Beach earthquake struck the City. This 6.4 magnitude earthquake led to over $50 million in damages, 120 deaths, including the death of Long Beach Firefighter P.T. Forker.

I would invite you to join the Long Beach Fire Department's Disaster Management Bureau in a special event on March 10 at 5:54 PM at the Long Beach City Hall - Council Chambers to discuss and help you prepare for future disasters focusing on earthquakes. Keynote speaker, Dr. Lucy Jones will be on hand, as well as members from the Police Department, Health Department, Development Services, the American Red Cross, and more.

Since my last message, the Long Beach Fire Department has been especially busy. The last 14 years the Department's Administrative Offices for Fire Prevention and the entire Department has been located within the Port of Long Beach building near the Queen Mary-Downtown area.

It is with great satisfaction that we now have a new location at 3205 Lakewood Boulevard. This shared facility with our Public Safety partners, the Long Beach Police Department, will allow us to serve the community in a professional and efficient manner.

This new site will allow our Department to have specialized equipment warehoused in a central location in Long Beach, along with our Administration offices. The department appreciates the full support we received from the Mayor and City Council supporting the vision and goals of the City Manager's office in assisting the Department in achieving a long-term solution to our Department needs.

My personal thanks to Mike Conway, the new Public Works Director, and Juan Rios Lopez from the City's Property Services Bureau, for their efforts on a 32-year lease/ purchase of this property which will support us for many years to come. The City benefits fiscally and improves Public Safety citywide.

In addition to this site, we are looking forward to the grand opening of new Fire Station 24 in the Port within the next 90 days. This $11 million dollar project is the first bricks and mortar fire station within Long Beach, since the completion of the Fire Station 14 in 1986. This opening is the first major benchmark in the goals we have documented in the recent Long Beach Fire Department Public Safety Master Plan.

We plan on developing Fire Station 12 in North Long Beach as our next major construction project, re-building a station that is 72 years old!

With the leadership the Mayor demonstrated by encouraging Community support of Prop H, funds have been directed towards public safety, adding 12 Firefighter positions with the restoration of a Fifth Truck Company in Long Beach.

With the promotions of the Captains and Engineers, we had an exciting Promotional Ceremony at our new Headquarters on February 22, 2008. The following members promoted to their new positions: Mike Albarran promoted to Battalion Chief, Scott Hart to Fire Captain, Jackawa Jackson to Fire Captain, Jim Owen to Fire Captain, Brian Sher to Fire Captain, Syd Jackson to Fire Engineer, Jim Fraser to Fire Engineer and Rex Pritchard to Fire Engineer. We also used this day as an opportunity to recognize Fire Captain Dave Holden for "40" years of Long Beach Fire Department Fire Service - Congratulations!

I look forward to what the next months and years have in store for this professional and progressive Department.

Dave Ellis, Fire Chief

Our goal is to provide outstanding public safety for visitors and residents of Long Beach. Please think about you and your family's safety...and consider enrolling in the Long Beach Fire Department's Community Emergency Response Team (C.E.R.T) class. For more information, call the C.E.R.T hotline at (562) 570-2525.

We are constantly updating the site to better serve you and the community of Long Beach. We hope you enjoy your visit of the Long Beach Fire Department and welcome your comments or suggestions.

- David W. Ellis, Fire Chief

OUR MISSION:

The mission of the Long Beach Fire Department is to protect lives, property and the environment, improving the quality of life and safety of the community.

OUR CORE SERVICES:

Maintain citywide presence to effectively respond to fire, medical, beach, and waterway emergencies.
Provide effective prevention, education, and preparedness services.
Coordinate the City's disaster management and Homeland Security efforts.
Improve the quality of life for our community.

OUR VALUES: