Fire Department Contacts - Safety and Buildings Division

- Excel spreadsheet with multiple tabs, September 19, 2011, alphabetical by fire department name

- Excel spreadsheet with counties related to fire coordinators' district numbers.  Also see list of counties and all S&B-assigned staff.

Fire Department Identification Number (FDID)
The Fire Department Identification Number (FDID) is assigned by the Fire Prevention Section. It is five digits long. The first two digits are the County Code Numbers, the next two numbers are unique to that County, and the fifth number is a 0 (zero). In the past, the fifth digit was a designation of the fire department's pay status. It was dropped a few years ago and a zero was added when FEMA's National Fire Incident Reporting System required five digits. If you would like to find all of the fire departments in Sawyer County, you would search in the Fire Department ID listing above for all FDIDs starting with 57. To find a county code's number, look in the County Code Number link above. The counties are in alphabetical order except for Menominee County.

Fire Department Pay Status Definitions
There are three classifications of fire departments in the United States: Career, Combination, and Volunteer. The terminology is not consistent by definition across the country. For administrative purposes in regards to the 2 Percent Fire Dues Program, the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services uses three classifications of fire departments based upon the pay status of the members. The following definitions are used in Wisconsin:

1. Career: Fire departments that have 100 percent of their members in full or part-time paid positions are classified as Career or Paid Fire Departments. The career fire department does not rely upon paid-on-call or volunteer firefighters to complement staffing (exception being mutual aid assistance). Examples of Career Fire Departments are: Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay and Eau Claire.

2. Combination: Fire departments that have full-time, paid-on-call or volunteer members are classified as Combination or Part-Paid Fire Departments. The combination fire department may have one or more full-time staff, but rely upon paid-on-call or volunteer firefighters to complement the fire department. The full-time staff may be chief officers, fire inspectors, dispatchers or single engine company. Examples of Combination Fire Departments are: Menomonee Falls, Fitchburg, Plover ,and Rice Lake.

3. Volunteer: Fire departments that have predominantly volunteer members are classified as Volunteer Fire Departments. The classification Volunteer Fire Department may be misleading since the classification does not mean that the firefighters may not be compensated. For classification purposes, a volunteer fire department does not have any member of the fire department that is paid for 36 hours or more of work a week. Volunteer fire departments may compensate their members for fire calls, training, clothing allowance or to be on-call. The fire chief or fire inspector may be paid a yearly salary or stipend for their services. Insurance and workman's compensation organizations may have different definitions. Examples of Volunteer Fire Departments are: Washburn, Augusta-Bridge Creek, Verona and New Glarus.

4. Affiliate of a Fire Department: Example: the Milwaukee Building Inspection Department.

5. Federal, State or Military Fire Department: Departments which are for a specific government agency such as an airport or Native American tribe. Examples are: Mitchell Intl Airport Fire Department, Wisconsin Veterans Home - King Fire Department, and Red Cliff Tribal Fire Department.

6. Private Fire Brigade: Some major industries may have their own fire department because of the special type of manufacturing they perform. Examples of Private Fire Brigades are: Kewaunee Nuclear Plant Fire Brigade, Tower Automotive Fire Department, and Johnson SC Fire Brigade.

9. Inactive Fire Department: Some fire departments consolidate into a larger fire department or district; or they may just disband. Records of these former fire departments are kept to help understand the history of fire protection and/or fire prevention services in an area.