Fire Department Operations

The City of Maple Ridge Fire Department provides many services within the categories of fire suppression and rescue, community safety and prevention, emergency management and leadership and administration. 

View the chart below for some of the key functions that are part of the day-to-day and annual operations of our department.

The Maple Ridge Fire Department tracks and reports on their work in the community through presentations to Council, and updates in the City's Annual and Citizens Reports.

• Annual Report
• Citizens Report
• Data Visualizations: Fire Incidents by Neighbourhood
• Data Visualizations: Fire Incidents by Type
• Data Visualizations: Fire Incidents by Year

As an example of available data, the Maple Ridge Fire Department responded to a total of 6,037 incidents in 2022:

Meeting the Needs of a Rapidly Growing Community

As Maple Ridge grows, so do the overall number of calls made to the Fire Department. The types of calls have also diversified over the years. As community need increases, the City must increase capacity of our Fire Department. That is why the Fire Department developed a new Fire Services Strategic Plan to succeed the outdated 2003 Fire Master Plan.

From its inception in 1946, the Maple Ridge Fire Department has evolved to meet the needs of an evolving community. The timeline below shows the journey from where our local Fire Department started to where we are today.

Timeline Highlights

• 1945 | On December 27, 1945 the house of the Bailey family caught fire when Mrs. Bailey was returning a lantern to a neighbour. The house, located on what was then known as 15 Avenue (today known as 236 Street), was destroyed. This tragedy inspired conversations around fire safety and thus began work to develop a fire department.
• 1946 | The first organized practice for the newly formed Haney Volunteer Fire Department took place in 1946.  This is regarded as the department's inception date. The department's first fire truck also arrived this year - the original truck can currently be seen in fully restored in the lobby of Firehall No. 1. Chief Stanyer, who was unpaid at the time, reported 28 calls for service in the inaugural year.
• 1946 -1970 | From the first year of operation, the Volunteer Fire Department grew. A fire hall was built beside the old Municipal Hall on 8 Avenue (the area on the east side of what is today known as 224 Street just north of Lougheed Highway).
• 1970 | Fire Hall No.1 was relocated from 8 Avenue (224 St) to a new facility built located at the northeast corner of 228 Street and Dewdney Trunk Road.
• 1972 | Fire Hall No.2 was constructed at 27471 112 Avenue to serve the Maple Ridge's eastern neighbourhoods. 
• 1987 | Fire Hall No.3 was constructed at 11777 203 Street to serve the Maple Ridge's western neighbourhoods.
• 2001 | The Fire Department staffing model transitioned from volunteer to a Paid-on-Call service model.
• 2003 | The Maple Ridge Fire Department completes its first Master Plan that outlines the phased transition to a composite staffing model (a combination of Paid-On-Call and Career Firefighters) to handle increasing call volumes and fire complexity.  
• 2005 | The Maple Ridge Fire Department hires its first career firefighters as outlined in the Master Plan. Service increased to one truck with daytime response seven days per week.
• 2006 | The Maple Ridge Department hires additional career firefighters as outlined in the Master Plan. Service increased to one truck with response 24/7.
• 2007 | The Maple Ridge Fire Department hired additional career firefighters.  Service increased to add a second truck with daytime response seven days per week.
• 2008 | The Maple Ridge Fire Department hired additional career firefighters. Service increased to two trucks with response 24/7.
• 2009 | The Maple Ridge Fire Department hired additional career firefighters. Service increased to add a third truck with daytime response 7 days per week.
• 2010 | The Maple Ridge Fire Department hired additional career firefighters. Service increased to three trucks with response 24/7. Firehall No.1 received a major upgrade with increased space, modernization of the existing facility and the addition of Emergency Operations facilities. 
• 2020 | Firehall No.4 was completed and began serving the Albion and Central Maple Ridge neighbourhoods. A training facility was incorporated into the project to support ongoing staff development. 
• 2023 | Having fully implemented the City's first Fire Master Plan, the Maple Ridge Fire Department began developing a new Fire Services Strategic Plan to address community growth, service level demands and Council's Strategic Plan.

The department operates on the basis of a composite model, integrating the rapid response of the career firefighters with the ability to quickly call out the paid-on-call firefighters for multiple / large-scale emergencies. This model is supported by the Fire Chief, Deputy Fire Chief and Assistant Chiefs who respond on a rotational basis 24 hours per day, seven days per week to provide support at emergency scenes. 

This model provides a guaranteed level of response which can be quickly expanded to meet the needs of the emergency and is a responsible use of the city budget. The department relies heavily on cross-training and good communication to ensure that the department functions efficiently and effectively. The "how can we help" approach is emphasized in all areas of the department whether dealing with the administration staff, firefighters, officers or fire chiefs