Operations

Pickering Fire Services takes great pride in preventing and protecting the community from fire, life-threatening emergencies and dangerous conditions.

Fire Operations Section is overseen by the Deputy Chief of Operations and is made up of four separate platoons. Each platoon is under the direction of a Platoon Chief, who is responsible for supervising a team of Captains and Firefighters.

Pickering Fire Services provides 24 hour emergency response through a rotating shift schedule. All operations personnel work an average 42 hour work week, made up of 10 hour day shifts and 14 hour night shifts.

Fire Operations is the largest component of the Pickering Fire Services team. The men and women in Operations are responsible for all aspects of emergency response.

Operations Services

The following services are provided by the Fire Operations Section: 

• fire suppression in both offensive and defensive modes as fire conditions permit
• search and rescue operations within structures involved in fire or other emergencies as conditions permit
• forcible entry
• ventilation of contaminated buildings
• salvage and overhaul operations to minimize fire damage, expose hidden fire and confirm the extinguishment of all fire
• emergency pre-hospital care responses including medical acts such as defibrillation, standard first aid and CPR
• confined space rescue, trench rescue, hazardous materials response and terrorism response are provided at the basic awareness level
• land based ice/water rescue and high angle rescue are provided at the rescuer level
• extrication services at motor vehicle and industrial incidents requiring the use of heavy hydraulic, air powered and hand operated extrication tools
• automatic aid and mutual aid incidents as requested and required