About Us

History
The Fremont Fire Explorer Post #173 was established in 1989. It was created to teach teens (who are interested in a career in the fire service) about the fire service in a hands on way. It gives teens a good look at the life of a firefighter. This fire explorer post is a great way to see if firefighting is right for you.

About the Fremont Fire Department
The Fremont Fire Department was established in 1956 when the city of Fremont incorporated. The city has a population of over 210,000 and is approximately 90 square miles. In 1999 the fire department responded to 12,442 alarms. The city operates 10 fire stations, 10 engines companies, 2 truck companies, 2 battalion chiefs, 3 type-3 engines, an air light unit, a hazardous materials unit, a heavy rescue vehicle, and various other pieces of apparatus. The city has state of the art fire apparatus made by Pierce®, LTI®, and West Mark®. Fremont is the fourth largest city in the bay area and is one of the fastest growing communities in the state. In an article in the May 1996 issue of the Journal of Emergency Medical Services (JEMS) it showed that Fremont has the highest survival rate of heart attack of any city in the nation.

 
  Things We Do
Training
We train once a week on Monday nights at 1830 hours (6:30 pm). Our trainings usually last until 2200 hours (10:00 pm). During our meetings we do inspections, physical agility, duty driver sign ups for the following week, discuss upcoming events and news, and do some type of training such as basic medical aid, search and rescue, auto extrication, tower opperations, pulling and racking hose from engines, wildland firefighting, SCBAs, and much more.
 

 

 Duty Driver
Duty Driver is a program where explorers do various details for the city. These details can be anything from delivering station supplies from one station to another, to picking up a firefighter paramedic from a hospital after he/she has transported with the ambulance. This is a great way to meet firefighters because you travel to all the stations. This is also good way to develop skills as a leader and gain responsibility. If there is a fire while explorers are on duty then they get to go and help out. Every explorer is required to do a minimum 16 hours of duty driver every month. Failure to meet these 16 hours results in ride along suspension.
  Ride-Alongs
A ride along is where an explorer gets to be a part of a fire crew for a day. This is the best way to gain knowledge about the fire service. While on a ride along you go where ever the firefighters go. If they go to a fire, explorers usually help out by pulling hose, changing SCBA bottles, hooking up to a hydrant, getting tools from the engine, putting out hot spots, and salvage and overhaul. Explorers must ride along at least once a month as long as they meet all the requirements and complete their monthly 16 hours of duty driver.

 
 
Public Relations
The Fremont Fire Explorer Post #173 is a big part of public relations for the Fremont Fire Department. At public relations events we hand out recruitment information as well as fire safety tips, stickers, and plastic helmets. Our biggest yearly public relations event is the Fremont Festival of the Arts that takes place the last weekend of July. At the Festival of the Arts explorers also provide basic first aid for those attending the festival.
  Call-Outs for Fires
All of our explorers that are off probation have a pager that is hooked into an all page system. Whenever there is a working fire in the city of Fremont, fire alarm (the dispatch center) will put out an all-page. An explorer officer will then call fire alarm and get the information for the fire. That officer will then put out an all-page to the explorer voice mail. All explorers will receive the second all-page on their pager and call the voice mail to hear the details on the fire. All explorers who respond to the fire will acknowledge on the voice mail.