FIREFIGHTING STAFFING

Full-time Firefighters work a nationally recognized 24-hour shift schedule. Shifts are assigned according to a 28-day cycle starting at 8 a.m. and ending at 8 a.m. the following day.

This means that Full-Time Firefighters are on duty an extra 416 hours more than the average 40-hour worker.  Each firefighter is also subject to emergency callback 365 days a year on days off, holidays and during vacations.

Bemidji Firefighters respond to incidents through a paging system.  These pagers alert the firefighters to respond to a given incident throughout the year.  Firefighters are paged on such incidents as structure fires, where manpower is needed.

• 1 Full-time Fire Chief 
• 1 Full-time Deputy Chief
• 7 Full-time Firefighters, Local #2302
• 4 Paid on-call Resident Firefighters
• 50 Paid on-call Firefighters