The Schenectady Fire Department responds to all fire related emergencies including smoke investigations, alarm activations, outside burns, vehicle fires and reported structure fires.
The Schenectady Fire Department works to reduce the number of fires in the city through education and enforcement. The Bureau of Fire Investigation and Prevention is a full time unit that investigates all fires in the city to determine their origin and cause. Two of these investigators are cross trained as District Attorney’s Investigators with police authority and they work on a task force with the Schenectady Police Department, Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives.
Education is an important component of fire prevention as well. Every October we visit all elementary school as well as day cares and preschools in the city to talk to the children about fire safety and prevention. Along with education in the schools we also have members of the department that are specially trained in the nationally recognized Juvenile Fire Setter Intervention Program. With this program we work closely with different organizations in the community in order to identify and educate children that have a propensity to play with fire in order to better ensure the safety of not only the child but all citizens of Schenectady.