Fire Rescue Services

We strive to provide the highest quality EMS service to the citizens that we serve with a progressive and experienced team of medically-trained personnel.

Loveland Fire Rescue has provided EMS since 1983 and since 1997, all operations personnel are required to be certified at the EMT-B level. Loveland Fire Rescue has had a long-lasting relationship with Thompson Valley EMS has provided our department with countless hours of teaching and re-certifications and has played a key role in certifying most of our members with their initial EMT-Basic certifications.

Over the years we have made other advancements in our EMS program and service to our citizens. We placed Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) on all front-line apparatus to assist in successful resuscitation efforts of victims of sudden cardiac arrest. Most recently, in 2009, we have seen a very progressive EMS program develop that not only oversees every aspect of EMS at Loveland Fire Rescue, but we have also become our own Colorado State Certified Training Group. LFRA provides in-house EMS training to our personnel ensuring that all certified members meet the requirements for recertification every three years. Thompson Valley EMS has played a key role in our success as a Training Group and the continued relationship between the two agencies continues to grow.

The primary goal of the EMS program is to provide the highest level of patient care to the citizens that we serve, to help ensure the continuity of patient care from Loveland Fire Rescue to Thompson Valley EMS, and to the definitive care our patients will ultimately receive. With these agencies working together and with the common goal of providing the highest level of patient care, we hope to continue to meet this goal for our citizens.

Our Mission

Special Operation's goal is to provide coordinated and efficient specialized rescue services and hazardous materials response to the citizens of Loveland and the Loveland Rural Fire District. Maintaining a high degree of mobility with the ability to deploy a response element as requested throughout the region.

Background

Special Operations was developed in late 2005, by combining long-standing specialty teams operated by LFRA. The concept of Special Operations is to have personnel cross-trained to handle all special rescue and hazardous materials incidents.

SOT's Three Operational Areas

Water Rescue

• Dive Rescue
• Swift Water Operations

Hazardous Materials Response

Urban Search and Rescue (USAR)

• Rope Rescue
• Building Collapse
• Trench Rescue
• Confined Space Rescue Operations
• Large Animal Rescue Operations

Special Operations is made up of several technicians and operations-level trained personnel with most personnel working at stations 2, 6, and 10.

LFRA Special Operations enjoys great relationships with several area emergency response agencies, including TVEMS, Berthoud Dive Rescue, Larimer County Search and Rescue, Northern Colorado Bomb Squad, Larimer County Dive Rescue, Colorado State Patrol Hazmat Response, Poudre Fire Authority Hazmat, Greeley Fire Department Hazmat.

Special Operations personnel are spread out amongst all 3 shifts providing an on-duty response to any Special Operations incident. Fire Station 2 houses all the Technical Rescue and Water Rescue apparatus or equipment. Station 10 houses all the Hazardous Materials Response apparatus or equipment.

LFRA has 4 Special Operations members assigned to Colorado Task Force One a FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force deployable throughout the United States.

The Tactical Fire Team was created in 2007 as a tactical support entity within the Loveland Police Department (LPD) - Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Team.

The Tactical Fire team (Tac Fire) consists of 7 LFRA members and a Battalion Chief who serves as the liaison between the two agencies or fulfills a Unified Incident Command structure when the situation requires it. The primary mission of Tac Fire is to be readily available to address any Fire Suppression needs while in the "hot zone." Each Tac Fire member is outfitted and equipped as any other SWAT team member; however, they are still Firefighters.

Some of the duties and responsibilities Tac Fire members may engage in during a SWAT incident are:

• Fire Suppression
• Forcible Entry
• Technical Rope applications
• Hazardous Material operations
• Emergency Medical Services
• Other duties as assigned by the SWAT Commander; Team Leaders; or Police Officers

Tac Fire team members work for and are directly under the authority of the LPD SWAT Team Commander or his or her designee. This also applies to Mutual Aid requests for the LPD SWAT Team and at the LPD SWAT Team Commander's or designee's authorization.

Loveland Fire Rescue Authority and Loveland Police Department have a very unique relationship which gives the SWAT team the best chance for success. Tac Fire has tools that most police agencies do not. Instead of training the Police Officers to use the tools, we train the Firefighters to work in the police environment so they can operate the tools; which frees up the Police Officers to stay armed and provide security while the Firefighters work. Tac Fire does not have the typical Fire or EMS relationship with LPD SWAT where the Firefighter is the primary EMS provider. Thompson Valley EMS provides Paramedics to fulfill the role of a Tactical Emergency Medical Service (TEMS) and Tac Fire provides support to the TEMS Medics where it is needed.

Tac Fire members respond to approximately 20-30 call-outs annually and attend a 10-hour SWAT team training each month and one additional 6-hour training each quarter at the LPD shooting range. Along with these basic hours of training, the SWAT Team has a week-long school that is scenario-based; as well as a separate two-day training course for the Tactical Rope Operators on the Team. The SWAT team is a highly professional life-saving team that is proficient in their skills to help bring stabilization to those incidents they are called to.

Aircraft rescue firefighting (ARFF) is a special category of firefighting that involves the response, hazard mitigation, evacuation, and rescue of passengers and crew of an aircraft involved in an emergency. LFRA ARFF Response consists of 10 LFRA ARFF-certified engineers and one Airport ARFF-certified civilian.

The Northern Colorado Regional Airport, located at the northeastern border of Loveland city limits, was founded in 1963 with operations beginning in 1964. The operation and maintenance of the Northern Colorado Regional Airport is a joint venture between the City of Fort Collins and the City of Loveland, with full management and policy-making authority vested equally in both cities. However, as the airport lies within the city limits of Loveland, the responsibility of fire protection lies with the Loveland Fire Rescue Authority.

The Airport serves a wide variety of users ranging from privately owned aircraft to commercial airlines and is one of only 14 federally certified commercial airports in the State. It has grown to approximately 94,000 operations per year with 245-based aircraft and over 190,000 passengers annually. Therefore, the airport is a vital component of emergency response by LFRA.

As per the FAA requirements, LFRA provides fully certified ARFF personnel and apparatus on standby for all commercial and chartered flights, as well as emergency response for any air operation. The LFRA ARFF Engineers are on aircraft standby 50-100 times per year.

Required annual training for ARFF personnel includes a Live Burn exercise and monthly training. Due to the mass casualty potential of an aircraft emergency, emergency response equipment and trained personnel at the scene of the emergency are of paramount importance. Their arrival and initial mission to secure the aircraft against all hazards, particularly fire, increases the survivability of the passengers and crew on board. Airport firefighters must have advanced training in the application of firefighting foams and dry chemicals used to extinguish burning aviation fuel in and around an aircraft to maintain a path for evacuating passengers to exit the fire hazard area.

LFRA works diligently to train with its mutual aid partners, as an aircraft emergency would draw on the needs of many organizations. Thompson Valley EMS, Windsor-Severance Fire Rescue, Poudre Fire Authority, Loveland Police Department, Larimer County Sheriff, Airport Operations Staff, and all Larimer County Emergency Managers, just to name a few.

The Wildland Firefighting program at LFRA is constantly striving to provide the best wildland fire suppression, and prevention service to the citizens we serve. We do that with the state-of-the-art equipment and hours of training all firefighters receive in wildland firefighting tactics. LFRA has a very diverse response district with a large portion west of the city limits along the foothills and Rocky Mountains.

To provide the best service to the citizens, LFRA trains regularly on wildland firefighting strategies and tactics, some of those topics are wildland-urban interface (WUI), wildland fire behavior, direct and indirect fire attacks, type 6 operations, and portable pumps name a few. All operation members are certified as wildland firefighters, while many have advanced certifications and training in wildland firefighting. Some of the advanced training are, crew boss, engine boss, Type 4 Incident Command Team, and Strike Team or Task Force team leader to name a few. These members are utilized within LFRA response areas on wildland fires, as well as being deployed outside our response areas for major wildland fires. LFRA often deploys its firefighters to major wildland fires all over the country. These fires are a great opportunity for our firefighters to gain experience and provide a service to other communities.

LFRA utilizes some of the best equipment available to assist in wildland firefighting. The apparatus is one type 3 engine, five type 6 engines, one type 4 engine, four type 2 water tenders, and eight type 1 engines. All LFRA firefighters are personally equipped with the best wildland firefighting personal protective gear available.