Your smoke detector goes off. You wake up smelling smoke. You jump out of bed, gather your loved ones, and head for safety. You’re one of the lucky ones. Your smoke detector worked. You hadn’t stolen the battery out of it to put in the remote control, or the garage door opener. Thanks to your smoke detector you and your family are alive. Since the early 1990’s, the City of Alliance has had an Ordinance requiring smoke detectors in every residence. Fire Chief Jim Reese thinks that is one of the reasons Alliance hasn’t had a fire death since 1997.  Other reasons are that annual fire prevention inspections to area business and public fire awareness safety programs help to keep the actual fire occurrence statistic low.

The Alliance Fire Department, as a paid department, has been responding to residents in need since 1897. That’s 104 years. It’s one of the city services you pay for with your tax dollars. The Alliance Fire Department has thirty-five sworn personnel. That means the firefighters have been appointed by the city after taking and passing a Civil Service examination. Alliance has one chief, one assistant chief, two fire inspectors, thirty-one platoon personnel divided among three shifts, one full time mechanic, and one secretary. The Alliance Fire Department responds to nearly six hundred calls a year, with a budget of $2.28 million in the year 2000.

The Alliance Fire Department has a Class 4 ISO rating (that’s some kind of insurance company lingo). That means insurance companies think it is a good fire department. Fire Departments are rated between 1 and 10, with 10 being the worst. When Alliance’s Fire Department went from a Class 5 to a Class 4, that meant about a 5% savings on insurance rates for commercial structures. The better the Fire Department is, the lower insurance rates can be. Lower insurance rates are also good for attracting new business and industry. There are certain factors beyond the Fire Department’s control which prevent Alliance’s Department from getting a higher rating, such as age of the water distribution system and risk from certain types of industry.

In Alliance we have two Fire Stations, one on E. Broadway and one on S. Union. There used to be another one on the corner of Garwood and Liberty. The Fire Station on E. Broadway was built in 1974. Previously, the Fire Department was housed in what is now known as the "Firehouse Theater" on E. Market Street.

All Fire Department’s are best known for fire suppression. The Alliance Fire Department goes way beyond that however. They are involved in: Hazardous Material Response, Confined Space and High Angle Rescue, Carbon Monoxide Investigation, Arson Investigation, Fire Code Enforcement, Building Plans Review, Juvenile Fire Setters Program, Referrals to Social and Mental Health Services, Fire Education for Schools, the Fire Safety House, Carnation Careful City, and Fire Safety Inspections.