Fire Division

The Fire Division of the Augusta Department of Public Safety has the primary responsibility for providing fire protection and rescue services for the City of Augusta as well as Butler County Fire District Number Two.  Butler County Fire District Number Two encompass 144 square miles of Butler County surrounding the city.  The department responds to an estimated 450 incident per year.

In addition to fire suppression, the fire division is trained and equipped to perform swift water rescue, water rescue/recovery, hazardous materials, confined space, vehicle extrications, fire safety inspections, disaster operations, severe storm operations, and fire/arson investigations.  Two of our officers are Certified Fire Investigator II with the Kansas State Fire Marshal.

We are part of Butler County Grass Fire Task Force Three which along with the Andover, Rose Hill, Douglass, Leon, Latham, and Atlanta form a response team to deal with major wildfires.

We have several Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) and one Paramedic which assist Butler County Emergency Medical Service with medical-related incidents.

The fire station is staffed 24 hours per day with a minimum of two Public Safety Officers.  As are all Public Safety Officers, the fire division staff have been trained in law enforcement duties in addition to their fire and rescue training.

The Fire Division is supervised by a Major who is the Division Commander and a Lieutenant who is second in command of the fire division.  The Director of Public Safety has overall command of the fire division as well as all other divisions within the department.

The City of Augusta operates two fire engines and one aerial platform.  Butler County Fire District Number Two operates two engines, two tankers, five grass fire units, one special operations unit, one rescue unit, two boats, and one utility truck.

Mutual Aid in Butler County is one of the most valuable tools we have to suppress fires.  We frequently go outside of our district to assist another fire department as well as we request assistance from other departments on larger incidents.  Due to the cost of fire apparatus, there is not a fire district in the county who could survive without mutual aid assistance.

In addition to the mutual aid program, we have an automatic aid agreement with the fire districts that are adjacent to ours.  This program allows the nearest fire station to respond to structure fires regardless of which district the fire occurs.

In addition to the paid full-time members, the department enjoys the efforts of 30 volunteer firefighters.  These citizens volunteer their time to assist the community and receive no compensation for their services.  These volunteers train alongside the full-time members on a monthly basis.  Volunteers are permitted to obtain fire apparatus drivers status but only after completing a detailed training course which takes about two years. 

Full-time officers receive two months of training before being released and assigned to a shift.