Prospect Fire Department/Introduction

The current Prospect Fire Department has a historical tradition dating back to the 1850s, from the time Prospect was incorporated back into the United States following its reclamation during the Mexican-American war. Starting as several various brigades at the time, including some held over from the Mexican government, intermittent provisionary post war, and the various US military units arriving while the new holding is established, the fire department didn't come to be a whole until 1917, following California State Legislature demanding incorporated cities with metropolitan sized areas to unify civil services to lesson budgetary loads to support maritime war efforts in support of the many naval bases in the state.

While the American Red Cross started its lifeguarding programs in 1914, its not until the New Deal Era of the 1930s that lifeguarding is officially sanctioned by the city and organized under the Fire Department as a life savings program.

Today the Fire Department includes patrolling offshore islands and up to about 3 miles off the coast in dealing with fires, they have ship in their service to assist; beyond is still strictly coast guard, out to the 12 mile mark that belongs to US 'shore'. As well, they have grown to include some of the other fire services in south county, to help with growing expansion of suburbs and control of brush and wildfires, currently developing programs that safely promote the fire ecology indigenous to these regions while protecting new homes and developments as they further encroach.