Bethel Fire Department and Emergency Services
Mission Statement
We, the members of the Bethel Fire Department, will protect lives and property before, during, and after an emergency through fire suppression, rescue, emergency medical response, and public education.
Since 1957, our department has served the beautiful community of Bethel, Alaska. Our combination fire and emergency services department provide a wide range of routine and emergency services which include but are not limited to public fire prevention and life safety education, fire suppression, Advanced Life Support (ALS) emergency medical services, technical rescue, and hazardous materials response (Operations Level). The fire station is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year with a career staff of eight. This includes a Fire Chief, Fire Captain, three Fire Lieutenants, and six Firefighter/EMT's. The Fire Chief and Fire Captain work 40 hours a week and are on call during nights and weekends. The Fire Lieutenants and Firefighter/EMT's work a rotating 24-hour Kelly Shift to ensure around-the-clock emergency response capability. To supplement response needs, a compliment of Volunteer Firefighters and EMT's respond to routine and emergency incidents. In 2022, our department responded to 1,280 EMS incidents and 198 Fire incidents.
The Bethel Fire Department conducts regular training year-round. Emergency Medical Technician training meetings are held every first and third Tuesday of each month. Firefighter training meetings occur every second and fourth Thursday of each month. Our instructors conduct initial recruit classes for Firefighter-1, Hazardous Materials Awareness/Operations, and Emergency Medical Technician (EMT-1) annually. Additionally, our department hosts advanced level Fire and EMS training with outside instructors to ensure continuing education and advancement opportunities for our members.
