Quantico Fire Department ambassadors to the community

The Quantico Fire Department responds to calls on base and off, and receives assistance from the fire stations in the surrounding counties of Stafford and Prince William. The fire stations within the counties have a mutual aid agreement with Quantico to assist and provide manpower when needed.

“It’s a good relationship,” said Raymond Loving, fire chief for Quantico fire and rescue. “There is great benefit to supporting each other; this job is about saving lives and we do it as a team.”

The agreement has been around for so long that neither of the counties is sure just when it started but with the adjustments on stricter codes that the National Fire Protection Association has made in the past 15 years, the need and demand for assistance is present more than ever.

“There was a time you could go into a burning building and fight a fire by yourself,” said Loving. “You can’t do that anymore, now there has to be at least two firefighters in and two fire fighters out.”

Stricter codes means a higher demand for manpower that one station may not have so the mutual aid agreement allows for fire departments within the county to have the numbers they need.

“At least once a day we have interactions with the base fire department,” said Shawn Crispin, battalion chief for Battalion 503 at Prince William County Department of Fire and Rescue. “Some days we are going to them or they are coming to us.”

In the last two years alone the base fire station has assisted on 1,980 calls varying from gas leaks, medical or as a public service. The base has received assistance 106 times within the past two years.

Prince William County firefighters participate in the mass causality drills aboard base and have done training with the base fire department.

The fire departments in the surrounding counties have been working with the base fire department for so long, everyone knows their job no matter what the call.

“We are thankful for them being around,” said Crispin. “They are helpful on every call and know the protocol and our system. They know what they are supposed to do and do it.”

The base fire department is ever-present in the surrounding communities and aiding in a number of emergencies and incidences.

Lance Cpl. Tabitha Bartley writes for the Quantico Sentry.