Tulare County Fire Department Operations Division Division Chief Ted Mendoza oversees the Operations Division. This element of the Department encompasses several areas that are vital to the department mission. These are as follows: Fire Personnel and Stations: Field personnel consist of 6 Shift Battalion Chiefs, 1 Administration Battalion Chief, 21 Fire Captains, 51 Fire Lieutenants and approximately 400 reserve fire fighting personnel. The fire station staffing varies from all reserve staffing to one person staffing supported by reserve firefighters. Fire personnel are responsible for emergency response readiness, pre-fire planning, fire prevention tasks, fire apparatus maintenance, station training, and station maintenance. Fire Personnel respond to fires, medical aids, traffic accidents, hazardous material incidents and rescue calls. Emergency Fire Communications Center (Fire Com): Fire Com is staffed with eight full time employees and a varying number of extra help dispatchers. Fire Com personnel perform emergency dispatching services for the Tulare County Fire Department (FD), Woodlake Fire Protection District, City of Farmersville FD, City of Exeter FD, City of Lindsay FD, Three Rivers Volunteer Ambulance, Camp Nelson Volunteer Ambulance and the California Hot Springs Ambulance. On an average year, Fire Com dispatches approximately 14,000 incidents. The Fire Com supervisor is also responsible for inventory of radio equipment and repair coordination of mobile radios, handie talkie radios and mountain top repeaters. Fleet Maintenance: The automotive shop is staffed by three dedicated fire mechanics and supported by Resource Management Agency (RMA) shop staff as needed. This staff is responsible for repair and maintenance of 84 vehicles ranging from large aerial fire fighting apparatus to light duty utility vehicles. While there are still a couple of in-service fire apparatus that date back to the 1970’s, great progress is being made in reducing the average of the mobile fire fleet. Facility Maintenance: One Maintenance Worker III (MW III) staffs Facility Maintenance. This individual is responsible for the maintenance and repair of 28 fire stations. The Resource Management Agency also assists with maintenance projects as needed. The MW III performs most of the repair work; however, some of the work is contracted out to private vendors. The fire stations range in age from 55+ years to 8 years old.