About Davidson Fire
Overview
The Davidson Fire Department is a volunteer agency that is responsible for fire protection, rescue services, and emergency medical first response in the Davidson-North Star Fire District and surrounding areas of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Our mission is to protect the lives and property of the citizens in our community through a comprehensive program of fire prevention, fire suppression, and training. We perform rescue operations in entrapment, high-angle, hazardous materials, and marine situations. We also provide advanced life-support first responder service on emergency medical calls in our district.
As a volunteer department, we rely on our dedicated members to give their time and energy in service to the community. All members carry radio-alert monitors and alphanumeric pagers to alert them to emergency calls. Members on duty respond from the Davidson Fire Station on Jackson Street while others respond from home or work. First responders are certified to the level of Emergency Medical Technician-Defibrillation and all structural firefighters are certified to at least the NFPA-1403 standard. Several of our personnel are also certified as Emergency Rescue Technicians (ERTs). Many of our members work or volunteer with other public safety agencies like the North Mecklenburg Rescue Squad, Charlotte Fire Department, and MEDIC (Mecklenburg EMS Agency).
Fire Suppression and Rescue Operations
The Davidson Fire Department is committed to reducing and controlling fire losses through public education, fire prevention, and rapid fire suppression. We provide fire education to students at local schools and churches in order to help children understand the importance of fire safety at an early age. We also help sponsor community events to raise awareness about the public’s role in fire prevention. The Davidson Fire Department works closely with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities Department to make sure that hydrants work and will be available for fire suppression.
The Davidson Fire Department responds to all fire calls in our district, including fire alarms, reports of smoke or flame in residences, brush fires, and motor-vehicle accidents. If smoke or flames are reported in a structure, fire companies from Cornelius are dispatched along with engines and ladder trucks from Davidson. Mutual aid agreements with the fire departments of nearby Cornelius, Huntersville, and Gilead guarantee that plenty of resources will be available for rapid fire suppression. Davidson firefighters hone their skills under live-burn conditions at training fires, such as the recent one on Shearer Road.
Extrication, water rescue, technical rescue, hazardous materials response, and other special operations are also provided by the Davidson Fire Department. Several of our members are certified as ERTs and are trained to operate the specialized tools needed to free patients trapped in wrecked vehicles. Our trucks carry special equipment to allow rescuers to respond safely to high-angle, confined-space, and hazardous materials situations. Our rescue boat, which can be launched into Lake Norman from several access points in Davidson, has a specialized front hatch through which a patient can be moved while protecting his spine.
First Response Services
The Davidson Fire Department is one of a number of fire departments and rescue squads that provide first response emergency medical services throughout Mecklenburg County. In order to get prehospital care providers to the scene of an emergency as quickly as possible, advanced life support-capable fire departments and rescue squads are dispatched along with MEDIC ambulances to all 911 calls for medical help. All first responders are certified to the EMT-Basic level, which allows them to perform lifesaving interventions (administering medications to treat severe allergic reactions, defibrillating a patient in cardiac arrest) along with basic life support skills like administering oxygen and immobilizing fractures. First response agencies do not typically transport patients, but first responders occasionally drive MEDIC ambulances to the hospital if extra manpower is needed to treat patients en route. Rescue-8, Davidson Fire Department’s first response vehicle, is staffed around the clock and carries all the equipment necessary to provide quality prehospital care until MEDIC personnel arrive.