Our firefighters are trained as Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) or Paramedics. With our stations strategically located within the fire district, we can often arrive prior to the ambulance and begin life-saving techniques. It is department policy to send fire department personnel on all life-threatening calls; heart attacks, trouble breathing, possible strokes, vehicle accidents, etc. Our members may respond on an engine, squad, aerial ladder, or in a car, depending on the type of call. We perform basic and advanced pre-hospital medical treatment, and assist the ambulance crew with equipment, patient assessment, and transportation.

Our units are dispatched according to information received at the Spartanburg County 9-1-1/Communications Center, and anticipated conditions that firefighters will find on arrival to the emergency. Many times the type of situation found upon arrival is very different from the situation dispatched. A major part of responding to an emergency situation means being prepared to deal with the potential worst-case scenario. Discovering that we need more resources upon arrival is often too late. Experience has taught us that it’s better to have too much help than not enough.

Motor vehicle collisions (MVC) present hazards such as potential fire, ruptured fuel tanks, un-deployed airbags, and/or the presence of hazardous materials. If any occupants are trapped in the vehicle we will begin the extrication (removal) process. Since all of our firefighters are Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) or Paramedics, we can begin assessing an injured victim’s condition and assist in providing treatment prior to the arrival of ambulance personnel. Additionally, our fire apparatuses are equipped with vehicle extrication tools.

Our Wingo Park station deploys an aerial ladder truck. This apparatus is equipped with a 105-foot hydraulic operated aerial ladder, a wide variety of ground ladders of various lengths, search and rescue equipment, equipment to control gas and electrical utilities, fire hose, water, and a fire pump. The ladder complement cannot be carried on fire department engines due to ladder lengths and number.

Best fire department practice dictates that the fire department possesses the ability to ladder the roof of every building within its fire district. The campus of the University of South Carolina Upstate has some buildings that require a 100-foot ladder to reach the roof.

Lastly, ISO recommends that communities have an aerial ladder spaced within 2-1/2 radii of one another. The deployment of our aerial ladder truck helps ensures that our fire district’s ISO Public Fire Protection Classification is the best that we can maintain within our operating budget. Our fire district’s ISO Class 2 rating ensures that our residents and business owners pay the lowest fire insurance rates.

NSFD participates in automatic aid agreements with neighboring fire districts and departments. When you call Spartanburg County 9-1-1 the nature of your emergency and location will be entered into a computer in the dispatch center. The dispatch center’s computer will analyze the nature of the emergency and its location, and then determine which fire department resources are closest to the location. The dispatcher will then dispatch the closest, most appropriate units to handle your emergency.

These automatic aid agreements ensure that the closest fire apparatus is sent to your emergency; while shared resources from neighboring fire districts ensure that sufficient apparatus, equipment, and personnel are sent to keep you, your property, and your firefighters safe.

NSFD is funded by your property taxes collected on our behalf through the Spartanburg County Treasurer's Office.

Sometimes several units are dispatched to the same incident. The first unit may have arrived on the scene, surveyed the situation, and informed the dispatcher that the situation was under control. All other responding units were canceled and put back into service, ready to take another call. Most likely, when you see an emergency vehicle go lights and siren through an intersection and then slow down and turn the emergency lights off, they have been canceled from the call they were going on.

We block traffic lanes for the safety of our personnel and our patients. Blocking extra lanes keeps our personnel safe when they go back to our apparatus to get more equipment and help protect the victim we are trying to stabilize. Over 25 firefighters are killed or injured each year while working at incidents on streets and highways. Lastly, Federal law requires that a traffic management zone be established when the normal flow of traffic is disrupted.

Firefighters are very concerned about running over firehoses because the hose can be damaged and any firefighter at the end of a nozzle will have the water interrupted and possibly cause injuries or death. Any hose that is driven over without protection has to be taken out of service and tested.