Higgins Fire Protection District

Mission Statement

The Mission of Higgins Fire Protection District is to provide the highest level of service to our community by valuing our members, promoting positive leadership and dedicating ourselves to excellence.

Chief’s Message 2023

The Higgins Area Fire Protection District has a proud history of cooperatively serving communities of south Nevada County for over 40 years. That spirit of service continues as we move forward into the future. The men and women of your Fire District are here to serve you on what often might be the worse day of your life. We are committed to providing the highest levels of compassionate service possible.

To that end, we are proposing to enhance the level of services to our residents, businesses and visitors by:

• Adding more staff and re-opening the Dog Bar Road Station on the eastern side of the District. This will benefit our entire community across its 91 square miles with better emergency coverage and improve emergency response times.
• Upgrading the current Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to fully certified paramedics, providing Advanced Lifesaving Services (ALS) capabilities on each fire engine.

To accomplish these important goals, we need additional funding. After the economic recession and the resulting financial crisis in 2008, the District was left with precious little income. As a result the decision was ultimately and reluctantly to down-staff (close) the Dog Bar Road Station, doubling response times to an average of 15 minutes in the eastern area of the District. This also, at times could negatively impact response times to all areas due to effectively doubling the size and scope of the remaining two stations’ service areas.

Calls for Service have increased more than 1100% since the current $25 annual tax was instituted in 1980 when this was an all-volunteer fire service. As you know costs of goods and services have skyrocketed since then as well. Coupled with the funding decreases from other sources as provided by law, delivering emergency first-responses aren’t up to today’s standards. The National Fire Protections Association recommends response times between 5 and 8 minutes maximum.

While areas within 5 to 7 miles of the two staffed stations generally experience responses within the recommended time-frame. Outlying areas experience significantly longer response times. And even areas close to the staffed stations could suffer longer response times when the fire fighters respond calls in the outlying areas.

So to benefit us all in the Higgins Fire District, we need your help. For more information visit www.FriendsofHigginsFireForMeasureI.org and on Facebook @higginsformeasureI for further information.

All of us at your Higgins Fire District stand ready to assist you in your time of need day or night, with compassion, professionalism, respect and dignity. We welcome you to visit us anytime you see us at any of our stations. Drop into our HQ station at Higgins Corner during normal office hours any weekday for a tour and a cup of coffee!