Brief History Of The Fire Department :

Established on May 17, 1966, Cowlitz County Fire District 6 is an all hazards agency that operates from a single fire station located at 146 A Street SW. The district responds to over 1200 fire, rescue, and emergency medical incidents annually in its first response area of approximately 12,000 permanent residents and approximately 100 square miles in Northern Cowlitz County and the City of Castle Rock.

The district is staffed by three career, 11 part-time, and 64 volunteer personnel. All field personnel are trained to district standards that meet or surpass State standards and/or certifications for firefighting, rescue, technical rescue, and emergency medical services. The district’s fleet of apparatus consists of three fire engines, one heavy rescue truck, one water tender, three ambulances and two support/utility vehicles.

The district provides several essential services to the community including fire suppression, fire investigation, fire prevention activities, fire code inspection/plan review, vehicle/entrapment rescue, high angle rope rescue, water rescue, EMT (basic life support) and Paramedic (advanced life support) first response and transport. The district also provides paramedic services to Cowlitz County Fire District 3 (Toutle), the Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument and has other signed automatic mutual aid agreements for cooperative response with seven other area fire districts and districts.

The district will engage in a strategic planning process during the 2006 operating year to reassess service levels required by the community and the resources currently available to the district to provide service at those levels. Major challenges to be addressed in the planning process include staffing levels, volunteer recruitment and retention, training, equipment replacement, facilities replacement and funding.

The goal of the district is to provide high quality, timely service to the community.