Employment

We keep our community strong by staffing our fire department with employees committed to delivering the highest possible level of service to the citizens of Oak Harbor.

The Oak Harbor Fire Department is a combination department; we are staffed by career firefighters and paid-on-calls firefighters who provide emergency response and department management and maintenance of the facilities and equipment.

Career Firefighters

12 Oak Harbor Fire Department firefighters hold career, full-time positions with the City of Oak Harbor:

• Fire Chief
• Deputy Chief / Fire Marshal
• Training Captain
• 3 Captains (24-hour shifts)
• 2 Lieutenant
• 4 Firefighter/EMTs

Paid-on-Call Firefighters

Paid-on-call firefighters begin at entry-level (with no firefighting experience), are trained as firefighters in their first year and EMTs in their second year.

Each paid-on-call firefighter is issued a pager and is required to keep it with them whenever possible. Obviously, family and work must take priority; however, participation is important to provide the necessary firefighting force at a moment's notice.

In addition to responding to emergencies, each day, five 12-hour positions at Station 81 are filled by paid-on-call firefighters who sign-up to fill the positions. The on-duty crew is a mix of paid-on-call and career firefighters responsible for performing any needed daily tasks in addition to responding to all types of emergency incidents. It is a job like no other.

Paid-on-call firefighters are committed and dedicated individuals. Many maintain a full-time job and family commitments in addition to their service as a firefighter. The program is designed to work with regular, full-time employment and provides a flexible training schedule and self-determined work schedule. For many, the program is a steppingstone to employment as a full-time, career firefighters.

Volunteers

• All OHFD firefighters are paid for time spent training, responding to emergency incidents, filling shifts, and fulfilling duties for the department
• Firefighters who are not full-time/career firefighters are called paid-on-call firefighters
• Oak Harbor Fire has one volunteer chaplain position
• If you are interested in volunteering your time in emergency service, please consider volunteering with Island County Department of Emergency Management (DEM). We work closely with DEM to prepare for and mitigate emergencies in Island County and Oak Harbor
  • DEM coordinates our local Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program which educates volunteers about disaster preparedness for the hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations
  • Learn more at the DEM Volunteer page