ABOUT THE SANTA CLARA FIRE DEPARTMENT

The Santa Clara Fire Department was first established in 1854 with Columbia Hose Company, a volunteer fire company. Several more volunteer companies were formed in the years following until 1908 when the individual hose companies combined to form one fire department. In 1949 the first fire station was built and in 1951 the first paid firefighters were hired.

Today the Santa Clara Fire Department has 173.5 paid employees (137 of them in the Field Operations Division). Available for emergency response 24 hours a day the SCFD has 8 fire engines, 2 truck companies, 1 hazmat apparatus, 1 rescue apparatus, 1 transport ambulance, 1 battalion chief and 1 assistant training officer. Today, the City has 9 fire stations (1 more in design phase) and one training center for the department.

The Fire Department responds to over 10,000 calls for service annually. Call volume: 79% emergency medical, 10% alarm activations, 2% fires, 1% hazardous materials, 1% technical rescue calls and 7% calls classified as “other.” The Fire Department protects a diverse array of occupancies in our community,  including Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara University, Mission College, the Santa Clara Convention Center, Westfield Valley Fair Mall, and several high rise hotels. Many Silicon Valley high tech businesses have their headquarters in Santa Clara. We have one major freeway (Hwy 101) that intersects our city and are bordered by three more freeways (Hwy 880, Hwy 280, Hwy 237), as well as the San Jose International Airport. The SCFD provides mutual aid response annually for local and regional wildfires across the State of California by staffing three fire engines designated for this response. We staff a Type 2 Hazmat Team.

The Fire Department budget for Fiscal Year 2025/2026 is $79 million with a City operating budget of $886.6 million.