The Department

The City of Cleveland, Tennessee Fire Department is a progressive career fire department with 96 personnel (including 4 non-firefighting staff) and 5 stations.  Cleveland has population of approximately 39,000 and comprises 27 square miles.   Our department also responds to all structure fires within the urban fringe area; which, by definition, is all area located within 5 road miles of a City of Cleveland fire station.  The total coverage area for the Cleveland Fire Department is 84.5 square miles serving a population of approximately 68,000.  Our department earned an ISO classification of 3 for all City residents and 4 for those in the urban fringe area in December 2006 which translates into lower insurance costs for all residential and commercial properties.    

The City of Cleveland, Tennessee Fire Department responded to 1738 calls for service in calendar year 2006.  This number is a 15.2% increase over 2005.   We expect the number of calls for service to rise sharply in 2007; and in the future, due to the fact that we are now responding to all vehicle accidents with injuries to provide vehicle extrication and aid/assist our local EMS.  In mid-year 2006, we placed into service a new Hazardous Incident Response Unit which responds to all hazardous materials incidents within our city limits.  This unit also enables the Cleveland Fire Department to participate as part of a 10 county hazardous materials state regional response team. 

The City of Cleveland

Moreover, it is expected that rapid growth in the City; particularly commercial growth, will continue to place increased demands on the department.  The City has been on record-setting pace of growth, permitting nearly a quarter-billion dollars worth of construction in the past three years alone. 

Even though our community is rapidly expanding, Cleveland has been able to maintain that “small town” atmosphere through various ways.  Our local Chamber of Commerce aggressively promotes our community locally, nationally, and internationally.  We have a downtown organization called Mainstreet Cleveland that promotes downtown utilization and events such as our Halloween Block Party, seasonal concerts, and automobile shows once per month during the summer months.