Leadership

Deputy Chief Lang Johnson commands the Fire Rescue Division. Deputy Chief Johnson started his fire service career in 1987 as a seasonal Forest Officer for the Oregon Department of Forestry and as a part-time structural firefighter with Valley Fire Service. The City of Grants Pass hired Deputy Chief Johnson in June of 2007 after serving the past 11 years as the Assistant Fire Chief for Rural Metro Fire Department.

Deputy Chief Johnson has earned an Associates Degree in Fire Science and a second Associates Degree in General Studies. In addition, he is an Oregon EMT Basic and holds numerous certifications in both structural and wildland firefighting. Deputy Chief Johnson is the current Josephine County Fire Defense Board Chief. He has also served as past president of the Rogue Valley Fire Chief’s Association, the Josephine County 911 Agency, and is active with many fire service committees and organizations.

Mission

The mission of our Fire / Rescue Division is to prevent the loss of life and damage to property from fire, accidents, medical emergencies and natural disasters through a comprehensive program of public education, awareness, enforcement and emergency response.

Prevention Services and Public Education

The Fire Marshal oversees the activities of the Prevention Services for DPS in both the areas of law enforcement and fire. The Fire Marshal is also responsible for reviewing building plans and for enforcement of the State and City codes.

A Crime Prevention Officer, who is a sworn police officer, provides crime prevention and public education. This position is a three to five year assignment, which allows other police officers to have an opportunity to enhance their careers and to work more closely with business and community groups. The Crime Prevention Officer works to resolve livability issues, resolve neighborhood disputes, and works to develop a close relationship with our city’s merchants. The Crime Prevention Officer also oversees the Public Safety Auxiliary Program.

A Fire Inspector functions as a fire inspector, fire and arson investigator, and coordinates the Engine Company Inspection Program. In addition, the Fire Inspector conducts life safety classes for business and community groups.

Response

When things do go wrong we are ready to respond quickly 24 hours a day, 365 days a year from three public safety stations strategically located within our community. Each station is staffed using a rotating “3 platoon” system ensuring a minimum staffing of two firefighters and one student intern firefighter at each station for each 24-hour period. One Battalion Chief supervises these personnel. The total minimum staffing for any given shift is seven full-time firefighters and three student interns.

The Fire /Rescue Division is staffed by 29 full-time employees (including supervisors, fire officers, firefighters, and fire prevention employees) who are all hard working, engaged, and dedicated professionals who take a great deal of pride in serving our community. As a hallmark, we hold a commitment to providing excellence and place the highest priority on customer service.

Services

The Fire / Rescue Division provides structural and wildland fire suppression, advanced emergency medical care, technical rescue, fire and life safety prevention services.

Cost Efficient

With an ever increasing demand for a wide variety of emergency services combined with the current economic conditions, fire departments are under increasing pressure to provide expanded quality services using the same resources. The Grants Pass Department of Public Safety prides itself in finding innovative ways to meet this challenge through mutual and automatic aid agreements with neighboring agencies, the student intern firefighter program, applying for and receiving federal grants for staffing and fire equipment, and finding innovative ways to reduce expenses by sharing facilities and administrative services between our police and fire divisions.

Message from Deputy Chief Lang Johnson

On behalf of the entire staff of the Fire Rescue Division, I would like to express our appreciation to our community for their support and allowing us to serve by performing the job we all love to do, helping people. Our community is protected by an outstanding group of well educated professional firefighters who are dedicated to providing our citizens with the best service possible. Each of our firefighters takes a personal interest in assuring we go the extra mile in providing high quality customer service.