Clallam County's Fire Protection District 4, Joyce Station, is located 15 miles west of Port Angeles, Washington, centered in and around the village of Joyce in Clallam County Washington. The district is roughly 4 miles north-to-south and 20 miles east-to-west, 80 square miles along Highway 112. The all volunteer force provides fire protection and emergency response services to the Port Angeles community. The members of the fire district continually strive to stay current with evolving fire and pre-hospital medical best practices to keep the residents and visitors in our community and our volunteers as safe as possible. Click on this red boldfaced title to access a seven-minute A Friend Indeed: Clallam County Fire District No 4 video for a full introduction to the department, its history, and more. You are invited to join the CCFD4 team or its Auxiliary team. Information below.
CCFD4’s mission is to prevent the loss of life and property. In addition to responding to fires, the Clallam County Fire Protection District 4 - Joyce Station also responds to medical emergencies, motor vehicle accidents, rescue calls, and incidents involving hazardous materials. Over 80% of its emergency responses require medical personnel and the services of its ambulances. The district advances public safety through its fire prevention and education programs. The timely delivery of these services enables Fire District No. 4 to make significant contributions to the safety of Joyce and the surrounding county. Click on this red boldfaced title to access the Clallam 4 Fire and Rescue website.
The Joyce Fire Auxiliary was formed to acknowledge the achievements, recognize the value, and support the efforts of CCFPD#4. Click on this red boldfaced title to access the Joyce Fire Auxiliary and Friends Facebook page, a place for the community to support our local fire department. The Auxiliary manages this page in an effort to keep the community informed, to support the local fire department, and to thank its generous volunteers for their above and beyond service.
Volunteering; By volunteering in any capacity, at the Fire District, you can help. CCFD4's active responders do as much as they can in addition to responding to the 911 calls, holding down regular jobs, and meeting their familial obligations. In 2019, its 30 volunteers put in over 7,000 hours of time to supporting the district and our community - the equivalent of 1.35 months of full-time employment from each volunteer. CCDF4 volunteers train to manage all scenarios, including transferring care to helicopter Medivacs and intercepting with Advanced Life Support personnel from out-of-district when necessary. More than half of the department's training time is devoted to fire suppression and extrication of patients from vehicles. The rural nature of the district demands a high level of quality medical training and timely responses. The team includes several “non-combat” volunteers, members of your community who help in areas other than firefighting or medical response, by mowing lawns, cleaning, landscaping, building maintenance, document filing, and a myriad of other daily ongoing tasks that help keep the district properties and operations functioning smoothly.
If you have a bit of spare time, and want to help support the district, you are welcome to give them a call, or stop by. they would be glad to chat about where your skills would be a help. The contact phone number is +1-360-928-3132.
Training: Being able to respond appropriately to an emergency requires specialized training. CCFD4 sponsors the training and education of volunteers to become firefighters, emergency medical technicians, and paramedics. Over the years the level of medical services provided in pre-hospital medicine has risen. These volunteers are prepared to provide sophisticated interventions that help stabilize a patient while transporting them to the hospital. CCFD4's training and education programs require that the person it trains must serve as a volunteer for a period after their graduation so the district recoups its investment. The programs are an equitable deal for all. Because the district strongly supports training, only one of its firefighters is not at least also an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). All volunteers are certified to provide High Quality CPR. It has one Advanced EMT and two Paramedics, all of whom are also firefighters.
The district has a consistent and well attended training program, conducting drills every Tuesday evening. The drills alternate between fire and medical. A fire drill consists mainly of hands-on scenarios, scene size-up, communication, accessing hydrants, supplying water to the fire engine using a tender (tanker truck), extricating patients from vehicles, hose deployment, attacking fires, etc. Our non-firefighter volunteers actively cross-train in logistics and support on fires. This frees our firefighters up to directly attack the fire and greatly expands the capability to respond and the cohesiveness of on-scene operations. Medical drills focus on using clinical reasoning to better assess and treat patients, the proper use of medical equipment and medications, mechanics of transport, rescue helicopter transfers, active shooter scenarios, and other training opportunities; often in cooperation with other districts in the county. This continuing education and hands-on training allows CCFD4's volunteers to effectively respond to Basic (BLS) and Advanced Life Support (ALS) medical and trauma emergencies, basic technical rescues, motor vehicle accidents, technical level Hazmat incidents, along with the structural and wildland fires traditionally viewed as the primary responsibility of a fire district. The Joyce fire district has earned the reputation as having some of the most well-trained emergency response volunteers in Clallam County.