Department Profile

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Fire Department:    Chaffee County Fire Protection District

Location:    Chaffee County, CO

Administrator:    Charles Blake, Fire Chief/Administrator

Personnel:    50 volunteer fire fighters, 4 paid part-time staff (mechanic, fire inspector, fire marshal, administrator) and 1 full-time assistant administrator.

Station:    4 stations. Greatest distance between stations is 35 miles.

Pop Served:    8,500

Area Protected:    1,000 square miles

Calls:    200/year

Apparatus:    4 engines, 4 tanker-pumpers, 3 brush trucks, 5 command vehicles, 2 HazMat trailers.

Software:    FH 5 version 5.1.24

Comments:    Located in the heart of Colorado with more 14,000 foot peaks than any other county in the continental United States. All of our territory is above 7,000 feet elevation. Chaffee County is a high mountain desert that receives only 9 inches of precipitation a year. During the Summer tourists can increase our daily population to 20,000. Many full-time residents live in urban-wildland interface areas where there are no fire hydrants.