Operations

The Princeton Fire Department operates 24 hours day, 365 days a year. We employ an All Hazards and Advanced Life Support (ALS) approach to emergency incidents. Our Department attempts to staff the daily operational shift with 7 to 10 full-time response personnel on duty during business hours, (3 full-time are 50 hour per week daytime employees), and 6 full-time on nights, weekends, and holidays.  Part-time employees’ bolster the nights, weekends, holidays, and other unforeseen shortages by working 12 and 24 hour shifts where needed.  Many of our part-time personnel are full-time firefighters on other departments. We are committed to highly qualified and trained personnel to meet the needs of our community.

Our firefighters hold many Texas Commission on Fire Protection certifications to include:

• Aerial Operator
• Driver/Operator-Pumper
• Fire Inspector
• Fire Instructor
• Fire Officer
• Hazardous Materials
• Incident Safety Officer
• Structural Firefighter
• Wildland Firefighter

Fire Response

Our department is capable of handling most fire related incidents, whether they are grass, vehicle, structure or miscellaneous fires. However, due to the size and complexity of some incidents and the need for additional manpower and equipment, we often rely on automatic and mutual aid agreements with our surrounding departments to support us. The Princeton Fire Department also supports these same communities with resources from our city when requested.

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Response

Our department holds an ALS capable certification with the State. EMS Transport is a County contracted ambulance company, American Medical Response (AMR), and we work hand in hand with their medics in the treatment and care of citizens who need these type services. Some of our firefighters actually even work part and for AMR or other private ambulance services. The Majority of our firefighters are Emergency Medical Technicians certified by the State of Texas. Our EMT’s are also trained in ALS skills through an internal program with oversight of our Medical Director.  Fire Department members' certifications range from EMT to Paramedic. These skills are utilized in support of our mission to provide emergency medical services as first responders.  

Special Operations

In our efforts to support our mission of "All Hazards" response, we have been sending and certifying our firefighters in special disciplines like hazardous materials, water rescue, wildland firefighting, technical rescue (ropes, trench, and confined space) and other special operations inherent to emergency incidents. Our capabilities are expanding past the "standard" response capability for most departments of our size. We are also a Regional and State deployable asset through the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System (TIFMAS), and the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG). Sending "All Hazards" firefighters into South Texas for Hurricane Harvey and into the Texas Panhandle for wildland fires are examples of this special capability.