The Los Santos Fire Department is responsible for helping out the citizens of Los Santos and the surrounding counties by providing local medical response for any medical emergency as well as providing assistance with any fires or rescue needs. 

 

Ranking Structure

Fire Chief

Assistant Chief

Captain

Lieutenant

Paramedic

Firefighter/EMT

Probationary Firefighter

 

What each Rank is and is responsible for:

Fire Chief: The chief is, as you’d expect, the main leader and supervisor of the applicable unit. The applicable unit may vary, as determined by the factors covered elsewhere, including, but not limited to, the section immediately following herein.

This is the executive manager and director of a department, and is the bottom-line when it comes to accountability for operations. Personnel and equipment management as well as overseeing safety education initiatives, protection and prevention measures, extinguishment, emergency medical services, and more, fall under the purview of his or her position of responsibility.

Assistant Chief: The assistant chief handles many administrative functions and provides technical and other support services to the chief and others in the department. Often responsible for budgets and development plans.

Captain: The captain oversees the day-to-day activities of the engine, truck or ladder company, while observing functional aspects of the crew performance with an eye towards analysis and feedback. Each captain may oversee multiple lieutenants, one of whom will likely fill in for him or her when the captain is unavailable.

The captain is often the authority on hand directing operations at an emergency scene, and may be the one to speak on behalf of the unit to the public through media or other forum.

Lieutenant: In rank between the Paramedic and the Captain, the lieutenant is sometimes characterized within an engine company as spearheading training, daily operations and emergency management response. When the captain is unavailable, a lieutenant may fill in.

Firefighter/EMT: Although the word “firefighter” is popularly used to describe any fire-fighting professional, in the usage within this section it is a specific designation indicating a delimited rank and position within a fire-fighting organization.

The feet on the ground of a fire-fighting operation, the firefighter is responsible for much of the actual hands-on actions that put fires out and save people’s lives. The firefighter handles hoses, manages placement strategy, operates a panoply of fire-rescue equipment, applies numerous sophisticated technologies and methodologies, and is often one to search, find, and rescue victims.

Probationary Firefighter: The probationary firefighter is a non-exempt employee (i.e., “at will”) at the entry-level within the hierarchy. The probationary firefighter is often still undergoing training and evaluation. 

Units:

Fire department units are divided in many organizational categories which reflect functions of fire-fighting work, physical realities of geography and equipment, and para-military management hierarchies:

• Fire Suppression and Rescue (Fire Engine)

• Emergency Medical Services (Ambulance)

• Special Operations

• May include boats, special ladders and nets, collapse rescue units, specialized ambulance or mobile ventilation equipment, hazardous materials technologies, or other specialized functional equipment.