FAQs • Burlington, IA • CivicEngage

Why do I see fire fighters at the grocery store and who pays for the items they buy?: Because the crews work a 24-hour shift (8:00 am to 8:00am), they must eat their lunch and dinner at the station. After the morning equipment checks and station maintenance are completed one firefighter will collect meal money from everyone and do the shopping. Depending on staffing levels you may see one firefighter in a utility vehicle or sometimes an entire engine crew at the store. Occasionally you may see firefighters eating at a local restaurant. This occurs when crews cannot get to the store because of emergency calls or training. At all times, whether at the store, shopping, cooking, or eating, the firefighters are in-service and available for calls.

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Fire Department

1. Why do firefighters work 24-hour shifts?: It would take more firefighters to cover 8 hour shifts. Firefighters in Burlington work a 56 hour work week and the 24 hour shift allows this. This type of schedule is the most cost-effective work schedule to provide fire protection 24 hours a day.

2. Why does a fire truck or pickup truck come when you call for an ambulance?: Although some fire departments send an engine on all ambulance calls, we only send a fire engine or a pickup on predetermined call types such as an unresponsive patient. Experience has shown that certain call types will require additional personnel for patient treatment.

3. Why do I see fire fighters at the grocery store and who pays for the items they buy?: Because the crews work a 24-hour shift (8:00 am to 8:00am), they must eat their lunch and dinner at the station. After the morning equipment checks and station maintenance are completed one firefighter will collect meal money from everyone and do the shopping. Depending on staffing levels you may see one firefighter in a utility vehicle or sometimes an entire engine crew at the store. Occasionally you may see firefighters eating at a local restaurant. This occurs when crews cannot get to the store because of emergency calls or training. At all times, whether at the store, shopping, cooking, or eating, the firefighters are in-service and available for calls.

4. Who provides the ambulance service for Burlington?: The Burlington Fire Department staffs two ambulances in the city every day. We also provide emergency ambulance service to West Burlington, Danville, several rural townships, and Henderson County, Il. We also provide emergency and non-emergency transfers from Great River Medical Center to other health care facilities upon request of the patient.

5. Do you respond to calls outside of the Burlington city limits?: Yes. We provide fire protection to the following rural townships- Tama, Flint River, Union, and Concordia. We automatically respond on all structure fires in West Burlington and by request in other areas. We have mutual aid agreements with fire departments as far away as Keokuk.