Operations
Fire Suppression
The Rice Lake Fire Department provides a quality level of service in a number of fire suppression disciplines. Career and POC personnel receive in-depth training on a regular basis. The department also has and maintains state of the art equipment and apparatus to meet the challenges of differing types of fires.
When a fire alarm is received the department will initiate an efficient response with its on-duty personnel, at the same time both POC and off-duty career personnel can be recalled either by our in-house paging system or by telephone, depending on the type of incident reported. This type of call back provides an effective supplemental force for any operation.
The City of Rice Lake Fire Department is trained and has experience in fighting numerous variities of fires. The fact that we are a small department allows all personnel to receive experience working at all types of fires.
Structural Fire Fighting
By far this is our main reason for existing, to protect and extinguish structural fires. These includes residential fires, large industry fires, small business fires, and any fire that is contained in or close to a building.
Wild Land Fire Fighting
The City of Rice Lake Fire Department also engages in many wild land fires. Our fire district covers many acres of grassland, open fields and wooded land. These types of fires, even though somewhat small in nature can be one of the most dangerous fires for the firefighters.
Other Fires
This encompasses a lot of other smaller categories. Examples of other fires would be vehicle fires, farm implement fires, and chimney fires to name a few.
Emergency Medical Services
The City of Rice Lake Fire Department participates in cooperation with Lakeview Medical Center to provided extra medical assistance when needed. Any call for emergency medical assistance is immediately responded to and handled by the department's career staff. All responding fire department personnel are certified to a minimum level of Basic Emergency Medical Technician and six members are currently certified at the Advanced Emergency Medical Technician level.
Rescue Services
The City of Rice Lake Fire Department has the expertise and equipment to handle a number of different types of rescue situations. This includes experience and training in vehicle extrication, confined space rescue, rope rescue, and water rescue.
Hazardous Materials Team
The City of Rice Lake Fire Department has been designated by the State of Wisconsin as the Barron County Hazardous Materials Response Team (HMRT). The HMRT provides assistance in hazardous material emergencies. For more information on the HMRT, see Barron County Hazardous Materials Response Team.
Fire Cause Determination
The City of Rice Lake Fire Department conducts investigations of all fire incidents it responds to, the purpose of which is to determine the point of origin and cause. A team of department personnel are available at all times for this purpose.