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Volunteers supporting the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department contributed more than 234,000 service hours in 2025, providing emergency staffing, disaster assistance, training support and public safety education across the county.

FCFRD operates as a combined career and volunteer department. Its 12 nonprofit volunteer fire and rescue departments work from stations staffed around the clock by career personnel, supplying additional facilities, equipment and responders.

The departments had 490 active volunteers who recorded 217,158 service hours in 2025. More than 490 operational volunteers helped staff additional response units and reinforce frontline apparatus during routine operations, major incidents and countywide emergencies. Twenty-three were advanced life support providers.

More than 315 additional administrative members supported the nonprofit organizations, operated canteens and served as department chaplains.

The 12 volunteer departments are represented by the Fairfax County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association and the Volunteer Fire Commission, whose seven members are appointed by the Board of Supervisors.

CERT Expands Its Community Role

For more than 22 years, the Fairfax County Community Emergency Response Team has trained residents to assist their communities during and after major emergencies.

CERT instruction covers fire safety, light search and rescue, disaster medical operations, communications and team organization. The program’s 527 active volunteers contributed 17,006 hours in 2025.

CERT members assisted FCFRD at 32 operational events that year. Their duties included traffic and crowd management, shelter operations, canteen service, communications and amateur radio, transportation assistance, and station coverage during fire station open houses.

Volunteers also supported 11 FCFRD training events, two community-partner training events and seven final exercises for CERT basic training.

CERT expanded its work on community risk-reduction efforts, including fire alarm installations and Hands-Only CPR demonstrations. Members also portrayed victims during EMT instruction, joint police and fire civil-disturbance training, Virginia Task Force 1 exercises, and joint police and fire active-shooter exercises.