Ten years ago on July 28, 2011, Asheville Fire Captain Jeff Bowen, a 13-year veteran, lost his life while battling an arson fire in a high-rise building at 445 Biltmore Ave. The Asheville Fire Department will hold a remembrance ceremony on July 28, 2021, to honor our brother. This ceremony will be held at 9:30 [...]
Each Fourth of July, thousands of people, most often children and teens, are injured while using consumer fireworks. Despite the dangers of fireworks, few people understand the associated risks – devastating burns, other injuries, fires, and even death. That’s why the Asheville Fire Department recommends leaving the fireworks to the professionals. We are excited to [...]
The Asheville Fire Department is requesting the authorization to apply for a FEMA Firefighters Grant of $130,910 to provide funding to purchase two air compressors to allow greater accessibility to fill air bottles used by firefighters during operation at a fire scene. During their June 22 meeting, Asheville City Council authorized a resolution for the City [...]
The 9th annual Carolina Brotherhood ride picks back up after a year off due to COVID and is set to take off from Asheville on June 14 and finish on June 18 covering 650 miles. The six-day ride to include 8 riders from AFD and APD will cover 130 miles on the first day paying [...]
The Asheville Fire Department proudly accepted the Community Service award for 2021 from the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF) at their virtual World Congress 16 conference held May 25-27. The WNC Peer Support Network nominated AFD based on our proactive approach to resilience and mental [...]
Hey Asheville, have you wondered what kind of fire truck AFD’s dual driver ladder truck is? It’s called a tiller truck or a tractor drawn aerial (TDA). This hook-and-ladder truck features a specialized turntable ladder mounted on a semi-trailer truck. Ladder 1 was purchased for $1.2 million back in 2019. It runs out of the downtown [...]
An Elon University poll released Feb. 9 shows that 12 percent of North Carolinians say they have already received the COVID-19 vaccine and another 45 percent say they will get vaccinated once the shots are available to them. That’s an increase from 33 percent in favor of the vaccine in October and 40.5 [...]
Asheville residents can look upon the new year with optimism. Together, we’ve weathered a pandemic and a vaccine will be available this year. Even so, the City of Asheville’s response to COVID-19 will continue in the new year, in coordination with the state of North Carolina and Buncombe County. Residents can look forward to advances in [...]
The Asheville Fire Department is teaming up with the National Fire Protection Association® (NFPA®) — the official sponsor of Fire Prevention Week for more than 90 years — to promote this year’s Fire Prevention Week campaign, “Serve Up Fire Safety in the Kitchen!” The campaign works to educate [...]
Asheville Fire investigators will have more tools to dig into debris to determine the origin and cause of fires under a FEMA grant accepted by Asheville City Council during their Sept. 22 meeting. The FEMA’s Fire Prevention & Safety Grant will provide specialized equipment for AFD’s Fire Marshal investigators, such as mobile software for documentation (iPads), [...]
The remnants of Tropical Storm Sally are expected to pass close enough to western North Carolina to bring periods of heavy rain Thursday morning into Friday morning. Because of this, the National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Watch to include Buncombe County. The City of Asheville is ready. Public Works [...]
The Asheville Fire Department assembled a team of eight firefighters to join the Buncombe County Task Force 2 Urban Search and Rescue Team (BCTF2 USAR) on a deployment assignment to Kinston, N.C., for standby to assist in emergency support due to probable effects of Tropical Storm Isaias. Isaias is projected to make landfall off the [...]
On April 3, 15 new Asheville Fire Department recruits stepped up a bit early to join forces with our firefighters already on the job. The recruits of the 90th academy started their training in November and were set to graduate in May, which has been postponed for a later date. All of them have completed [...]
The Asheville Fire Department learned that the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI) unanimously approved to grant them accredited status at a public hearing this week in Orlando, Fla. Accreditation is a comprehensive self-assessment and evaluation that enables the department to examine service delivery and compare it to the industry standards. It [...]
The Asheville Citizens Fire Academy is designed to increase the community’s understanding and awareness of the Asheville Fire Department. This is an amazing opportunity for adults (18 years or older) who live and/or work in Asheville to learn about the philosophies, policies and guiding principles of the Asheville Fire Department and the services we provide [...]
With a new year comes new programs, facility improvements and projects to improve our community. Here’s a look ahead at 10 Asheville City government initiatives as we ring in not only a new year, but a new decade in 2020. Civic Center gets Harrah’s Cherokee name The year 2020 will start with excitement for the newly named Harrah’s Cherokee Center — [...]
Did you know that more than a third of home decoration fires are started by candles? The Asheville Fire Department shares these holiday safety tips from the National Fire Protection Association.