Santa Maria City Fire Department

Santa Maria Fire Department has protected California's Central Coast city of Santa Maria for more than a century, growing from a single leased wood-frame fire house downtown into a full all-risk emergency services agency. Chiefs from Dean Laughlin and Frank Crakes in the early 1900s through today's administration have built the department into the city's primary responder for fire, medical, and rescue emergencies.

The department runs six fire stations across the city, including a station dedicated to Santa Maria Public Airport where crews maintain Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) capability. Beyond structure and vegetation fire response, companies handle pre-hospital emergency medical calls at the EMT level, hazardous materials incidents, water rescue, trench rescue, and general public assistance calls, reflecting the all-risk model the department advertises to residents.

Fire Chief Bradley J. Dandridge leads the department with Deputy Fire Chief Jim Clayton, who began his career with the City as a reserve firefighter in 1993. Line personnel are represented by the Santa Maria City Firefighters Union, IAFF Local 2020, and the department promotes internally through Firefighter, Fire Engineer, and Fire Captain ranks while also recruiting lateral firefighters from other all-risk agencies.

Santa Maria hires entry-level Firefighters and Firefighter-Laterals through the City's centralized online Employment Opportunities portal whenever a recruitment is announced, using the statewide Firefighter Candidate Testing Center (FCTC) and Cal-JAC Candidate Physical Ability Test (CPAT) process common to many California departments.