What is the Pine Island Fire Dept.?
The Pine Island Volunteer Fire Department is a not for profit organization providing contract public safety services to the city of Pine Island and the five surrounding townships of New Haven, Oronoco, Pine Island, Milton and Roscoe. Its mission is the protection and preservation of life and property for the people it serves. It is committed to doing so through the provision of quality, cost effective services in the areas of fire suppression, emergency medical services, auto extrication, ice/water rescue, hazardous materials response and any multitude of manmade or natural disasters.

Who does the Pine Island Volunteer Fire Department Serve?
The Pine Island Volunteer Fire Department operates under contract with the Townships of New Haven, Oronoco, Pine Island, Milton and Roscoe serving all or portions of each. The present territory under the protection of the City and Rural Fire Associations is approximately 130 square miles in area.

How is the Pine Island Volunteer Fire Department Organized?
As mentioned previously, the Pine Island Volunteer Fire Department is a non-profit organization operating under contract to five townships and the City of Pine Island. It is governed by a board of directors elected by the membership. The elected officers of the Department are Fire Chief, Deputy Chief, Relief Board President, Relief Board Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary and two Trustees. Officers are elected to one-year terms. In addition to the elected officers, the Chief has the power to appoint additional officers for the safe and effective operation of the Department.

What Does the Term 'Volunteer' Mean?
The fire service in the United States has a rich tradition of volunteer fire departments (or companies) dating back to the days of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. These volunteer fire companies provided fire suppression services through the time and talent of the members of the community. As time progressed and some areas grew, the need for full-time (or career) firefighters developed. This occurred mainly in medium to large cities where the industry and tax base both required and could pay for a full-time staff. In other areas, volunteer departments continued to provide quality cost effective services to their community.
While there are very many variations of 'volunteer' departments, the most common in this area is the paid-on-call department. This is the system used at the Pine Island Volunteer Fire Department today. Paid-on-call implies that the firefighters are on-call employees of the Department who are paid a per incident expense for certain activities. Presently, members are reimbursed for all time spent responding to calls and attending training. In addition to the expense reimbursement, members are eligible for a retirement through the Department's Relief Association.
The Pine Island Volunteer Fire Department continues the rich tradition of volunteerism through extensive involvement in the community assisting and supporting a wide variety of organizations and events.

You Mean There Are Not Always Firefighters at the Fire Station?
Correct. With the exception of meeting nights and other work details, there are not usually firefighters at the fire station. When the Department is alerted to a call the members of the Department must first respond to the fire station to pick up their firefighting gear and the fire trucks (apparatus). Current department guidelines require that you be able to respond within four (4) minutes. This means that you must be able to respond from your residence or place of employment to the fire station in four (4) minutes or less. This does not take into account traffic and other hazards that may limit your response time.

How Are Firefighters Alerted to Fire Calls?
In this area we are very fortunate to have available the E911 service. E911 (enhanced 911) provides for the automatic routing of all 911 calls to the appropriate police, fire and ambulance dispatch service providers. For our area that service provider will be one of several. The Olmsted County Sheriffs Department, Goodhue County Sheriffs Department, Dodge County Sheriffs Department or the Minnesota State Patrol. When a 911 call is placed within our service area, it is automatically routed to the correct dispatch center showing the address of the call and what police, fire and ambulance agencies should be alerted. Then, through the use of a special voice paging system, the Pine Island Volunteer Fire Department is alerted to the call. Upon receipt of a unique coded signal, all of the Departments' pagers are activated and the emergency dispatcher is able to inform every one of the location and type of incident. At this point all firefighters respond to the fire station to get their equipment and trucks.