Ashburn Volunteer Fire-Rescue Department

InfoboxFireDepartment
name = Ashburn Volunteer Fire-Rescue Department

motto =
established = 1944
staffing = Combination
strength = 200
stations = 2
engines = 5
trucks = 2
squads = 1 (Rescue Engine)
rescues = 1
EMSunits = 5
FirstResponderBLSorALS = BLS/ALS
chief = Dan CohnThe Ashburn Volunteer Fire-Rescue Department, or AVFRD is a volunteer fire department that provides fire protection and Emergency Medical services to Ashburn, Virginia. The Ashburn Volunteer Fire-Rescue Department is a volunteer organization supplemented with County provided career staffing, as are most fire and rescue companies in Loudoun County. Loudoun County Fire & Rescue (LCFR) career personnel staff both stations between 6am and 6pm, and volunteers staff both stations between 6pm and 6am. LCFR provides ALS/Medic unit staffing 24 hours a day at Station 6.

History

The Ashburn Volunteer Fire Department was founded in 1944. Originally, as with many volunteer companies, the sole engine was kept at the Chief's house, and when an emergency call came in, the volunteers would be called and would meet the fire engine at the scene. Initially, the AVFD was supplemented by the Sterling Volunteer Rescue Squad for EMS services. Over time, as call volume increased in both Sterling and Ashburn, the time came for AVFD to acquire an ambulance and provide EMS services of its own to the residents of Ashburn.

Call Area

Ashburn VFRD currently has two stations, 6 and 23 (the "rat den") with a proposed Station 22 to be built in 2009 in the area of the Xerox Training Center, and also has two first-due areas (one for each station). The entire call area extends east to west from Route 28 in the east to Goose Creek in the west, and south to north from just south of the Dulles Greenway to the Potomac River to the north. It is estimated this area covers over 73,000 residents.

Mutual Aid

The Ashburn Volunteer Fire-Rescue Department responds to neighboring areas in Loudoun County, including Sterling, Leesburg, and Arcola as well as Aldie and South Riding. The department also has mutual aid agreements the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, so response areas include Washington Dulles International Airport.

Membership

AVFRD has three kinds of membership.

Operational Members

Operational members are those members who server in an active firefighting and/or EMS role.

Members are assigned to a duty crew that runs an assigned night. Each duty crew works the same night each week, and one out of every five Saturday evenings. The Friday and Sunday night crews share a single Saturday shift.

Each year, during the company meeting held on the first Monday of December, elections are held for all ranks of Lieutenant and above. Sergeants are appointed by the Chief thereafter.

Operational Ranks

Administrative Members

Administrative members serve in an administrative capacity and do tremendous work behind the scenes to support the operations of the department.

Lifetime Members

Lifetime members may also be Operational or Administrative members, but they may also be former members who are no longer able to perform operational and/or administrative duties for whatever reason. To be considered for Lifetime membership you must have served in an operational and/or administrative position for at least 15 years, and then voted in to the position by the current membership.

Apparatus

Stations

Station 6: Old Ashburn

Station 23: Moorefield

Station 22: Lansdowne (future)

Fomerly at the Xerox Training Center, Station 22 has not been operated or dispatched in years. Its area had been parts of Leesburg Station 1 and Ashburn Station 6's first dues. As of 20 December, 2007, Station 22 boxes were assigned to an area encompassing from roughly just west of Goose Creek, north of Route 7 to Route 28, and Belmont Country Club. This station will staffed by LCFR personnel 24 hours a day.

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External links

* [http://www.ashburnfirerescue.org Ashburn Volunteer Fire-Rescue Department]
* [http://www.loudoun.gov/fire Loudoun County Fire-Rescue]