Chief's Message

Welcome to our website! Our firefighters and staff are here 24/7 to serve you as effectively and safely as possible, given the resources provided to us. LFD’s level of service is one of the best you will find in a city comparable in size. Our initial fire response capability is limited, so we promote early detection, warning, and notification through our PREVENTION PROGRAM as your first line of defense against fires. Fire and EMS services, though treated as two separate Programs for organizational purposes are delivered by our firefighters who are also trained as Emergency Medical Responders, Emergency Medical Technicians, or Paramedics. The Paramedic level of services is new to Longview Fire in 2011, being initially funded by FEMA through the SAFER Grant Program, (Staffing Additional Firefighters for Emergency Response).

Our daily activities key in on our three essential priorities; Prevention & Education, Preparedness, and Emergency Response. We believe our efforts in these areas support delivering our Mission to, “Maximize the Safety and Well-being of Our Community by Reducing Risk to Life and Property.” We must rely on our partners in public safety and support & collaboration with our partners in the community to achieve the desired outcome stated in our Mission.

Accepting the different economic environment we live in today, Longview Fire is continually evaluating ways to improve the effectiveness of our services with the same or even less resources. Even so, a gap in services was identified in our strategic plan developed in 2007. This year, Longview Fire will develop a comprehensive capital plan to identify facility needs that support current and future delivery of services.

I believe the future in Fire Services should build upon the vision of providing an essential capability to respond and mitigate fire, rescue, and emergency medical emergencies, but greater focus should be placed on the Prevention side of the equation. Full prevention service delivery can be defined through the ”Four E’s”; Education, Engineering, Enforcement, and Economic Incentive. Educating the residential, business, and industry sectors of the public on fire safety and prevention strategies reduce not only the loss of lives and property to fires, but also offset the need to build greater emergency response capabilities. The notion that “the impact of a fire is not going to happen to me” is not valid, because fires that happen to other people and businesses does affect us all through loss of business revenue and taxes, and increase in insurances costs.

Quality Service, Timely Response” continues to be our commitment. “Quality Service” is essential to ensure that the best level of care and proficient performance is provided for all services rendered. “Timely Response” is critical for Firefighter/EMTs to be effective in life saving efforts and minimizing loss of property to fires.

Our commitment for now and in the future is to listen to what you, as a citizen of Longview, want us to be. As a department of the city, we are continually exploring new ways to hear your message. Longview Fire has recently joined Facebook as another venue to tell our story and for you to learn more about what we do. Please be patient as we build this media connection. You can check us out on our website too at http://mylongview.com/fire/. We also welcome you to visit us personally at either of your two fire stations.

Thank you all for your continued support. Until we meet, please keep in mind this year’s Fire Prevention Theme; “Protect Your Family from Fire!”

Daryl McDaniel, Fire Chief