The mission of the Falls Fire Department is to provide the professional capacity and full resources of the organization to serve the needs of the public.

Unfortunately, do to training manpower constraints and the pending Wake Forest merger, the Falls FD is currently not accepting applications for new membership unless the candidate is IFSAC FF1 and FF2 and Hazmat Ops level certified. Check back with us later in the year.

The opportunities to get involved in your community are many. If you would like to get involved with serving your community in one of the most exciting and dramatic ways, why not become a member of the Falls FD? We have a variety of ways to be involved, each listed below.

We hope you will take the opportunity to view this short video which highlights  last years activities. If you would like to find out more about being a member of the Falls Volunteer Fire Dept click here and fill out our contact form, or stop by the station any Monday night from 7-10PM for one of our weekly business meetings. Here you will meet the volunteers and be able to ask questions see the equipment and get a glimpse into what it takes to provide the community the services we provide.

Junior Firefighters are kids aged 16-18yo that want to be part of the fire service. They are closely supervised by senior members of the department and work next to those senior firefights in a very specific and controlled environment. This program is designed to expose interested youth to the fire service as a potential career.

The Junior firefighter is required to get permission of both his family and his school, He/she must maintain passing grades and is required to present his report card each quarter. During the school year the Junior firefighter is only permitted to be at the station after school until 10:00pm during the week and all day until 10pm on weekends.

Junior firefighters are permitted to participate in closely supervised training evolutions that do not involve hazardous situations. Junior firefighters are also permitted to run emergency calls under the close supervision of senior personnel. This includes medical emergencies, car accidents, brush fires and structure fires.

The Junior firefighter is NEVER permitted and will not be intentionally put in any hazardous situation.

The probationary firefighter is the entry level position for 18-over. This level of firefighter is required to train in the hazardous environment with senior firefighters and certified instructors. Being a probationary firefighter involves both book work and physical work. It is very demanding both physically and mentally. To be able to ride on emergency calls the probationary firefighter will be required to successfully complete the following instructor lead courses.

• Incident Command System (16 hrs)
  
• Hazardous Material Operations (36hrs)
  
• Blood Borne pathogens awareness (8 hrs)
  
• Wake County Essentials school I & II (2 full weekends 8-5 each day)
• Department training (24 hrs)

It is in the probationary phase of their training that the firefighter will be expected to work through the Falls FD probationary training program, where department specific techniques and expectations are taught. In addition to this specific training, the Probationary firefighter will begin NC Dept of Insurance Firefighter 1&2 training taught at various NC Fire Dept's often through the community college system. There are no costs to the firefighter associated with this training, and the department will issue the appropriate firefighter equipment to the student for his use during this phase of his/her training.

Interior firefighters are firefighters who have been able to successfully complete all the prerequisite training and has demonstrated his/her ability to be part of a team.  Interior firefighting involves participating in often extremely hazardous environments and situations where you may be called upon to lay your life down for another.  To get to this level of firefighting you could have spent in excess of a year as a probationary member learning both the "Art & Science" of fighting fire and often includes more than 200 hours of training.

In addition to the training, you will be expected to run "Duty Crew" of at least 24 hrs a month. Duty crew is the ON SITE staffing of the department from the hours of 6pm-6am Mon- Fri, and all weekend. These shifts are split into 12 hr blocks. Here is where you payback the taxpayers for the training and equipment you are issued.

                The EMT must take a state approved training class that involves book work and physical training and lasts for 160 hours of training at a local                                 community college. The state waives the tuition fees associated with this training IF you are a member of a NC recognized fire department. The student                 is required to pay of his/her text book. It is EXPECTED that all Falls firefighters will become EMT's as part of their training.

                 The Engineer position is where driving fire apparatus is part of your responsibility. The Engineer candidate will be required to pass a state certified                      Emergency Vehicle Driving (EVD) class, and successfully pass the departments Engineer training program. This training program involves significant                  book, mathematical training and physical training of the fire pump. It is typically reserved for more mature/experienced members. It is also strongly                      encouraged to complete the state certification for being a Driver Operator (DO)

The ladies auxiliary is an integral part of the department, made up of women in the community that want to support the efforts of the department in providing services to the citizens of the fire district. The Ladies auxiliary assist in fund raising, and providing on scene support for large scale incidents with water/food etc. The Falls FD ladies Auxiliary are a very active and dedicated arm of the department.