The Burlington Fire Department offers a wide range of public safety programs and services to support our community. Serving more than 170,000 customers in a combined urban and rural area, the fire department provides emergency response, fire prevention services including public education programs, inspections and enforcement.
Services
| Public Education |
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Fire prevention through public education is a priority of the Burlington Fire Department. It is part of each employee's responsibility to deliver fire prevention and public safety messages and promote safer behaviours when interacting with the public. The Burlington Fire Department prioritizes the development and delivery of fire prevention and life safety education programs based on identified community risk.
For a description of programs currently offered, please see our programs section below. For general enquiries about public education, please email: firedepartment@burlington.ca |
| Emergency Response |
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The Burlington Fire Department is made up of career and volunteer firefighters, who are highly trained to respond to a wide range of emergencies including, but not limited to:
Firefighters are also involved in a number of non-emergency programs and community events and provide support to fire prevention staff in delivering public education and fire prevention programs. |
| Communications (Dispatch) |
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The Burlington Fire Department's communications division handles between 13,000 and 14,000 emergency calls, and thousands of non-emergency calls, every year. Public safety telecommunicators (dispatchers) are usually the first point of contact during emergency or non-emergency calls for fire service requests for assistance. The fire department's communications division answers phone calls and dispatches emergency services for both the Burlington Fire Department and the Oakville Fire Department through the fire service dispatch partnership between the City of Burlington and the Town of Oakville. |
| Emergency Preparedness |
| Visit our emergency preparedness page to learn more about how you can help prepare yourself and your family in case of an emergency. |
| Open Air Burn Permits |
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If you reside within a designated open air burning area (PDF), an Open Air Burn Permit is required prior to burning. You can request an open air burn permit (free of charge) by completing an online form or by contacting Fire Prevention at 905-637-9536. If you are thinking about requesting an open burn permit, please keep the following in mind:
If you suspect open air burning in a non-designated area, you are being bothered by the smoke from a fire or you are concerned about the location of an active fire and would like to make a complaint, please contact us ay 905-637-8253. |
Programs:
The Burlington Fire Department provides several risk-based programs and services to the community. In addition regular inspections and fire drills, the department offers a variety of fire prevention and life safety education programs:
| School Curriculum Support |
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The Burlington Fire Department is pleased to provide in-school teaching support by request. We offer classroom presentations as well as fire station visits to enhance curriculum-based learning that is tied to life and life safety. Some examples of educational support we provide include:
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| The Arson Prevention Program for Children (TAPP-C) |
| The TAPP-C program was created by the Office of the Fire Marshal of Ontario and the Centre for Addition and Mental Health with a goal of reducing the risk of fire-setting among children and youth in the community. This program targets children/youth at risk of setting fires and makes education and counseling resources available to them. The program is delivered locally through partnerships with the Halton District School Board, Halton Regional Police Service, Children's Aid Society, The Reach Out Centre for Kids and other regional fire departments. |
| Apartment Fire Safety Community Outreach Program |
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This community outreach program is geared to residents living in Burlington's apartment/condo buildings. The focus of this targeted outreach strategy is to educate residents about how to prevent the most common causes of building fires (unattended cooking and careless smoking) and create awareness of the importance of personal escape planning.
If you are a building owner, property manager or tenant and would like to learn more, or customize an educational visit for your building, please email: firedepartment@burlington.ca
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| Electronic Recycling Program |
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The Burlington Fire Department has teamed up with Green Tec Recycling Solutions to recycle unwanted electronic items, keeping harmful materials out of landfills. Acceptable items can be dropped off between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m., seven days a week to:
The proceeds generated by recovering reusable electronic materials will be used to support the Burlington Fire Department's Vehicle Rescue Team. To learn more about other recycling programs, visit our waste initiatives page. |
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Burlington Fire Tanker Shuttle Accreditation |
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The Burlington Fire Department has received Superior Tanker Shuttle accreditation from the Fire Underwriters Survey following successful tests of the department's plan used to deliver water to the areas of Burlington that have no access to fire hydrants. The Tanker Shuttle accreditation test includes a thorough field review of Burlington's fire risks and defences by the Fire Underwriters Survey, a national organization that provides data on public fire protection for statistical and insurance purposes. Subscribers of Fire Underwriters Survey represent about 85 per cent of the private sector property and casualty insurers in Canada. As part of the testing, tankers from Milton, Hamilton and Burlington transported water in a continuous loop from Harrison Crescent to the test site at Appleby Line and No. 1 Side Rd. Halton Regional Police Service provided traffic control for both sites. Residents who live in rural areas of Burlington can download this certificate to send to their insurance company when negotiating their home insurance rates. |