Jefferson County Fire Service

Before 1947 Jefferson County Fiscal Court operated the Jefferson County Fire Department. The department operated three engine companies from three stations equally spread across the unincorporated county land.[1]

A chapter of Kentucky's codified set of laws, the Kentucky Revised Statutes allows for the incorporation of fire protection taxing districts in otherwise unincorporated areas. As the population of Jefferson County grew after the Second World War small communities began to believe the services of the county fire department were wholly inadequate for their growing needs. These communities secured the votes necessary to establish fire protection districts. The districts levied a tax based on a property owner's total real estate worth and allowed for more money to be available exclusively for fire protection. Eventually, 21 separate districts were formed, completely covering all of Jefferson County outside of the Cities of Louisville and Shively. Since it was now unnecessary Jefferson County Fiscal Court disbanded the county fire department completely in 1964.[1]

The 2003 merger of Louisville and Jefferson County governments did little to affect the Jefferson County fire districts. Since then, other non-official names for JCFS have been coined such as "Louisville Metro Suburban Fire" and the "Suburban Division, Louisville Metro Fire"; however, since Louisville Metro Government has no direct control over the suburban fire departments, such references would be inaccurate and possibly misleading.

The merger legislation permits the continuing existence of all governmental subdivisions of the county including cities and fire protection districts. It does, however, prohibit the incorporation of new ones. Consequently, true "mergers" of districts are not possible since a new governmental entity would necessarily be created, although several districts have chosen to dissolve and to be absorbed by neighboring districts.

Of the 21 fire protection districts extant in 2003, by mid-2019 almost half had dissolved or were in the process of merging into other departments.

The Okolona Fire Protection District absorbed the Black Mudd Fire District in 2003. Black Mudd station 1 became Okolona station 3.

The Pleasure Ridge Park Fire Protection District absorbed the South Dixie Fire District in July 2004. South Dixie station 1 became Pleasure Ridge Park station 7, and South Dixie station 2 became Pleasure Ridge Park station 8.

The Edgewood Fire District merged into the Okolona Fire Protection District in 2005. Edgewood station 1 became Okolona station 4. In 2010, this station was closed and torn down.

Dixie Suburban merged into the Lake Dreamland fire department in July 2011.[2] Dixie Suburban station 1 became Lake Dreamland station 3, which currently serves as a storage and training facility.

On March 1, 2018, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer signed the executive order making the merger between Anchorage Fire & EMS and the Middletown Fire Protection District official. The Anchorage Middletown Fire & EMS Department is headquartered on Urton Lane, formerly home to Middletown Station 1. [3][4]

On July 1, 2018 Jeffersontown Fire Department absorbed the McMahan Fire Protection District, which began operating in the Hikes Point area in 1955. [5][6]

The Lyndon Fire Protection District merged into the St. Matthews Fire Protection District on July 1, 2018.[7] With this merger, St. Matthews Fire and Rescue became responsible for fire protection services in the areas of St. Matthews, Lyndon, Hurstbourne, Norbourne Estates, Indian Hills, Graymoor Devondale, Plantation, Rolling Hills, Westwood, and Bellemeade.[8]

On April 17, 2019, the boards of trustees for the Anchorage Middletown Fire & EMS Department, and the Eastwood, Harrods Creek and Worthington fire districts voted to merge the latter three into the Anchorage Middletown department; the expanded department then merged, on July 1, 2019, making 11 stations covering 92 square miles of the East End of Jefferson County. Anchorage Middletown Chief Andy Longstreet remains as chief of the department, while the Eastwood, Harrods Creek and Worthington chiefs have took on management roles within the expanded department.[9]

2020: Lake Dreamland merger

In June of 2020, Lake Dreamland Fire Department was annexed by Pleasure Ridge Park (PRP) Fire Protection District. The annexation would allow the now defunct Lake Dreamland Fire Department to fully staff a Fire Engine 24/7 in the District and, in the addition; A new 24/7 Advanced Life Support Ambulance crew. However, up until now there is not enough Paramedics available. The Ambulance unit remains BLS until further notice.

The Jefferson County Fire Service consists of 14 fire protection districts that collectively protect 333 square miles and 495,000 people, surrounding the original Louisville city limits.[10]

Fire departments in the JCFS use a unified numbering system for dispatch and radio transmissions. The numbering system consists of 4 digits; from these 4 digits, a firefighter can tell the department, the type of unit, and the number of the unit for any given vehicle. Many other counties surrounding Jefferson County in Kentucky also use this numbering system or a similar one.

The first and second digits of the 4-digit number represent the department. Department numbers include:[11]

Defunct department numbers include 12 (Harrods Creek), 16 (Lyndon), 18 (Worthington), 20 (Anchorage) 30 (Dixie Suburban), 35 (South Dixie), 44 (Edgewood), 55 (McMahan), 60 (Black Mudd), and 77 (Eastwood).40[Lake Dreamland]

The third digit of the 4-digit number represents the type of unit.[11]

The JCFS has recently made official an updated numbering system. It is quite similar to the old numbering system, but with a few changes. Though most of the units that have to change their number have not done so yet, but they will do so soon.

With county fire departments starting to add ambulances to their fleet, a few complications with the numbering system have occurred. Historically, ambulances have used the number 8 as their third digit. With Anchorage-Middletown Fire District, their ambulance fleet is large enough to where it takes up all 10 “8” series number spots. Their heavy rescue truck, formerly Harrods Creek Rescue 1288, was renumbered to 9920. Per the system, this number represents an engine company. As of the current moment, there is no dedicated number for ambulances.

The fourth digit of the 4-digit number represents the unit number. Some departments use the number of the station the truck is usually located at, while others pick and choose a number.

The Jefferson County Fire Service has special service teams[12] that consist of members from various departments across the county. These special teams have their own tones and "department number". The JCFS Special Operations Team uses 2 "department numbers", 1 for their water rescue equipment trailers, and 1 for their collapse and trench rescue equipment trailers. While many departments carry special equipment in their own marked vehicles and trailers, the JCFS owns their own special equipment in JCFS marked vehicles & trailers. Though some trailers go under the "department number" of the department that owns the station it's located at, or have their own call-signs.

The JCFS owns 2 specialized vehicles (1 hazmat and 1 utility), along with many trailers carrying specialized equipment for special operations. Unit/Hazmat 6691 is currently located at and responds from Lake Dreamland Fire Protection District station 1, which has a close proximity to a local heavy industrial area known as Rubbertown. Unit 6691 is a 1993 Ford CF-8000/Betten that is ex-Jefferson County EMS.[13] Unit/Utility 6697 is a utility that is located at and responds from Okolona Fire Protection District station 1. Okolona is centrally located along the southern border of Jefferson County. Unit 6697 is a 2001 Ford F-350/1977 E-One, with the chassis and cab being ex-Jefferson County EMS, and the body ex-South Dixie Fire Protection District.[13] Unit 6697's main purpose is to pull trailers with special purpose/operations equipment.

The JCFS Hazardous Materials Operations Team consists of members from nearly all of the departments that are part of the JCFS.[14]

The JCFS Special Operations Team[15] consists of the JCFS's Water, Collapse, Trench, Confined Space, and Rope Rescue Operations Teams.

Emergency and most government services in Jefferson County operate on one radio system, locally called Metrosafe. Metrosafe currently uses a Project 25 Phase 1 trunking system.

The Jefferson County Fire Service currently operates from multiple radio channels.

The primary purpose of JCFS is to coordinate help and cooperation between the fire districts in fire suppression activities. The member district of JCFS have, through the years, integrated their response plans with one another to the extent that the districts de facto operate as one on the fireground. Newly adopted dispatching protocols disregard traditional district boundaries and direct the response of the closest, most appropriate fire equipment to a call for help. It is not uncommon to see fire apparatus from two or more districts on the scene of a routine fire call. Interoperability between the JCFS districts and Louisville Division of Fire is informal and the two organizations do not participate in the unified chain of command when operating together.

GE Appliance Park has completely removed building 6 after the fire, and they currently have no plans to rebuild the building or build a new building on the site.

Fairdale High School offers a Fire & EMS program that introduces students to and prepares them for careers in emergency services. The academy often trains with local fire departments, and is active in the community. They have, for a long time, maintained a fully equipped and operational pumper. The current unit, Brutus II, is a 1990 Pierce Lance pumper with a 1500 GPM pump and a 1000-gallon water tank. This unit was donated by the Fairdale Fire District, where it served as Engine 9032.

Before Brutus II arrived, the program maintained Brutus. Brutus was donated to the school from the Pleasure Ridge Park Fire Department, where it served as Engine 2223. Brutus was a 1982 Duplex D-350/Grumman 1250/750.[16] [17]

Many of the Jefferson County Fire Service fire departments have an explorer program to allow kids, usually ages 16 to 18 to get a feel for what it is like to be a firefighter. They get hands on training, a state firefighter number, and their training hours get logged into the system. Currently, the Highview and Fairdale Fire Departments have official explorer/junior firefighter programs implemented and active. The (former) Middletown Fire Department, Okolona Fire Department, Buechel Fire Department, Fern Creek Fire Department, Edgewood Fire District, Camp Taylor Fire Department, Black Mudd Fire Department and the Eastwood Fire Department used to, but no longer have, an active program.[18]