Under the direction of Fire Operations Division Chief Brian Povandra, the Fire Operations Division is comprised of three Battalions (A, B & C) of 39 personnel each. These dedicated women and men work 56 hour weeks to assure 24/7/365 day response readiness.
Each Battalion is led by a Battalion Chief.
Above, left to right: Battalion Chief Keith Trojanowski (A-Shift), Battalion Chief Andy Lipp (B-Shift), Battalion Chief Calen Maningas (C-Shift)
A Firefighter’s day begins at 7:00 am and continues for a 24 hour period. They take care of their Fire Stations just like it is their home, including lawn maintenance, snow removal, painting, waxing the floors, light construction and cleaning them top to bottom.
A firefighter’s day is busy. They begin the day by checking their personal protective gear, equipment and trucks. Next, they engage in physical fitness training, followed by daily company training. The afternoons are spent performing equipment and station maintenance, conducting fire preplans, school visits, public education, fire inspections, drills, more training, station tours and much more. And remember, at any time, they may have to drop everything to respond to emergencies.
Rapid City Firefighters are well versed and highly trained in the area of wildland firefighting. In addition to providing wildland fire suppression and staffing Incident Command System (ICS) position in and around Rapid City, our firefighters deploy to large fires across the United States each year. In the last two years alone, Rapid City Firefighters have traveled to large fires in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Kansas, Wyoming, Colorado, Montana and Idaho.
To assist in battling these large blazes, our firefighters performed tasks such as fireline medics, helicopter crewmembers, engine bosses, firefighters, command & general staff positions, hand crew members and heavy equipment bosses. The experience our members get while deployed to these large fires makes the Rapid City Fire Department a top-notch organization able to handle the toughest fires when they arrive at our back door. In addition to the gained knowledge and experience, the expenses are reimbursed and directly fund apparatus and equipment that would normally have to be funded by general tax dollars.
Maintenance
Maintenance Supervison Mike Holmberg keeps our fleet of over sixty vehicles ready to respond to calls. Working alongside retired RCFD Lt. Tyler Wilcox, they are responsible for repair, maintenance and service of all Department ambulances, large & small fire apparatus, wildland apparatus, staff vehicles, and all other rolling stock. In addition to fire trucks, Mike & Tyler maintain and service all of the equipment that is utilized in our jobs.