About Puget Sound Fire
Our Mission
Puget Sound Fire is a regional, full-service fire department with a mission to professionally and compassionately help people. We do this by serving with integrity, leading by example, being resilient, and taking care of each other.
Our Communities
Puget Sound Fire provides emergency and non-emergency services to more than 120 square miles of property, protecting a population of more than 260,000 residents.
The communities that we serve are the cities of Covington, Kent, Maple Valley, SeaTac and Tukwila, as well as unincorporated areas of King County Fire District #37 and King County Fire District #43.
Services & Staffing
As an internationally accredited fire department, Puget Sound Fire employs approximately 450 people, with 345 of those being uniformed personnel. Our fire stations are staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year by full-time, career firefighters. Advanced Life Support (Paramedic) services are provided through the King County Medic One program.
The broad range of emergency response services that we provide to our residents from our 17 fire stations throughout our response areas include:
- Emergency Medical Services
- Hazardous Materials
- Water Rescue
- Technical Rescue, and
- Wildland Urban Interface
Additionally, Puget Sound Fire also provides non-emergency services to our residents including:
- Emergency Management
- Fire Prevention
- Public Education
- FD CARES
Our support divisions include:
- Community Relations
- Finance
- Human Resources
- Strategic Resource Management
- Business and Information Technology Services
- Logistics
- Fire Garage, and
- Facilities Maintenance
Department Oversight
Puget Sound Fire is governed by the Puget Sound Fire Governance Board and the Maple Valley Fire Commissioners Board. The Governance Board is comprised of nine voting members and four non-voting members. Three members of the board are appointed from the Kent City Council, three from the Board of Commissioners for Fire District 37, three from the Tukwila City Council, one non-voting member from the Covington City Council, one non-voting member from the SeaTac City Council, one non-voting member from the Maple Valley City Council, and one non-voting member from the King County Fire District #43 Board of Commissioners.
The Maple Valley Board of Fire Commissioners is comprised of the five Maple Valley Fire Commissioners. The Board of Fire Commissioners is responsible for oversight of the Contract for Services between Maple Valley and Puget Sound Fire.
Both the Puget Sound Fire Governance Board and the Maple Valley Board of Fire Commissioners have the responsibility to oversee budget and policy decisions and to ensure that the department is successful in its mission of protecting our communities.
Click here to learn more about the boards and to view meeting schedules.
Funding
Puget Sound Fire uses a voter-approved, two-part funding method comprised of property taxes and a fire benefit charge (FBC) to fund the fire department. The FBC is a fee that is based on the benefit of having emergency services. It is not a per call charge and is not based on property value.
The property tax/FBC model provides a stable funding method that results in predictable revenues. Adding a FBC alongside property taxes as part of the funding system allows Puget Sound Fire to equitably distribute the cost, meaning that higher risk properties pay more for the benefit of emergency services and lower risk properties pay less.
Click here to learn more about the Fire Benefit Charge.
Calls for Service
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
| Annual Total | 26,636 | 29,438 | 28,823 | 33,218 | 35,974 | 45,008 |
| Fire | 1,081 | 944 | 1,071 | 1,384 | 2,093 | 2,880 |
| EMS | 20,458 | 22,632 | 21,892 | 24,721 | 25,838 | 30,799 |
| Service | 642 | 807 | 826 | 1,137 | 1,274 | 3,039 |
| Other | 4,412 | 5,055 | 5,034 | 5,976 | 6,769 | 8,290 |