About Us:

Benton County Fire District #6 (BCFD6) is in South East Washington state approximately thirty miles South of the Tri-Cities (Kennewick, Richland and Pasco) area along the scenic Columbia River. The District being fully authorized under Washington State (RCW 52.02.020 Districts authorized — Health clinic services.) and governed by an elected three-member Board of Commissioners.

BCFD6 consists of one career Chief, 6 career firefighters, seventeen volunteers and twenty-two Paid-on-Call firefighter/EMT’s. BCFD6 has 4 career and volunteer personnel trained as EMT-Basic, 2 career Advanced EMT and 2 career and volunteer Paramedics.  Career staff work 48-hour shifts and work closely with volunteers and Paid-on-Call personnel.

Our department protects 270 square miles of rural land from 3 fire stations (Paterson, Plymouth and Sunheaven). Our two ambulances service a response area encompassing approximately 370 square miles in two counties. Sixty percent of our total calls for service are medical related.

The resident population of BCFD6 is approximately eight hundred (800) however, due to the nature of the industries and abundant farming in our district, the population during the summertime period is much higher and varies throughout the year.  Each year we see a drastic increase of traffic on our roadways and major Interstate highways. Although we are rural, our district contains several key facilities and locations. Some of these key areas are: thirty (30) miles of US Fish and Wildlife scenic wildlife preserve along the Columbia River; the US Corps of Engineers McNarie Dam; three Bonneville Power Administration high energy transmission lines; Williams Pipeline bulk storage facility and Pipeline serving Spokane, Seattle and the West coast; six miles of Interstate 82; twelve miles of State Route 221; thirty miles of State route 14; and hundreds of square miles of cultivated agricultural property including Lamb Weston Foods, Agra NW, Sunheaven Farms,  Columbia Crest winery, Nutrian Ag Solutions, Columbia Seed, Alexandria Nichole Vineyards, Canoe Ridge Winery and Wyckoff Farms.

BCFD6 provides ALS/BLS ambulance coverage to two neighboring Fire Districts through an Automatic Aid Agreement (Klickitat County Fire District 10 and Benton County Fire District 5).

We have two Paramedics and are able to provide 24 hr ALS coverage on a limited basis.  We revert to BLS coverage when a Paramedic is unavailable. Therefore, we must work closely with our neighboring ALS agencies as well. Mutual aid is received and given with the Prosser, BCFD2 and Tri-Cities areas when advanced life support is needed through Mutual Aid Agreements.

• Company summary: BCFD6 is an “all hazard” fire and EMS response agency. The average annual call volume has increased 29% in the past five years. We attribute this increase to the increase of farming and industry in our area. The District responded to 283 emergency calls for service in 2019. BCFD6 responds from three stations with 15 apparatus that include fire trucks, wildland apparatus, rescue vehicles, ambulances and support vehicles.
• Mission statement: The mission of Benton County Fire District No.6 is to safely preserve life, property and the environment while operating within our stated values.
• Company history: Benton County Fire Protection District 6 (BCFD6) was formed in 1983 from a split with Benton County Fire Protection District 5. Citizens from Paterson, Plymouth and Sunheaven petitioned the County Commissioners to form a new Fire District that focused on these areas and gave them the ability to improve fire and emergency medical response. In 1985 St. Michelle Winery purchased an ambulance and housed it in their Safety Services building thus began our EMS program. The ambulance was staffed with BCFD6 volunteers. Eventually, new fire stations were built in Paterson and Plymouth to house apparatus and the ambulance was moved to the Paterson station. We now have ambulances in both Paterson and Plymouth.

Markets and services: BCFD6 has a unique citizenship we serve. Our citizenry are primarily independent hearty people that take pride in taking care of themselves. Rarely, do we get a call for minor injuries or illness. Our responses are commonly for trauma or illness that are life threatening. A reoccurring comment is “We don’t get many calls, but the ones we have are spectacular!”  BCFD6 is a fire department and a licensed Basic Life Support (BLS) ambulance service. When a Paramedic is available, we are allowed, by our Physician Advisor and Washington State Health Division, to provide Advanced Life Support (ALS) service. This capability is available on a limited basis.