Department Spotlight

Each month we will spotlight a member department and give you an insight to some of our membership.
If you would like to have your department spotlighted, please contact your county representative.

Spotlight Department:

 

This Month’s Department is the City of Rochester Fire Department.

The City of Rochester Fire Department is a 50 member “combination” Fire Department, 35 full-time and 15 paid on-call members, led by Chief Mark Klose, providing fire, rescue and public assistance services to the Rochester, East Rochester and Gonic Sections of the community.

The department operates with 5 Engines, 1 Tower Truck, 1 Aerial Ladder, 1 Tanker, 1 Heavy Rescue, a Forestry Unit and 4 Utility/Staff Vehicles of various uses.

The facility includes living quarters, a physical training room, a meeting/training room and an office from which general fire department business is conducted.

The department serves a community of 30,000 residents over the span of more than 45 square miles from the two 24-hour manned fire stations central and downtown in Rochester, and a sub-station located in Gonic.

Rochester Fire personnel provide a wide variety of services including fire safety inspections, programs in the City Schools, and a proactive approach to fire safety in the community.

Some important events for Rochester Fire Department.

City of Rochester’s Employee of the Year:

City Manager Daniel Fitzpatrick and Fire Chief Mark Klose are pleased to report that Firefighter Matt Furtney has been named the City of Rochester’s Employee of the Year for 2017.

Firefighter Furtney earned the recognition for his immense dedication to protecting the safety and welfare of Rochester’s residents throughout the year. He will be officially recognized at Employee Recognition Night on Friday, March 16, at the Elks Club

Ride-along for city elected officials:

The City of Rochester Fire Department has initiated a Ride-along with Rochester Firefighters. This offers Insite into the daily lives of the fire department for elected officials to visit and see the working of the department up close up, this helps to show how the demands of the department has changed.

“The old way of thinking, that we just sit here playing checkers and wait for the bell, is long gone,” Capt. Joe Burns said as he sat in his office catching up on morning reports. “We see a bunch of different stuff here.”