Q. Are the Monarch Fire Protection District boundaries the same as the City of Chesterfield?

A. No. The Monarch Fire Protection District covers approximately 62.7 square miles and is set up as an independent taxing authority, much like a school district. While our boundaries include a large portion of the City of Chesterfield, we also cover parts of Ballwin, Clarkson Valley, Creve Coeur, Maryland Heights and Wildwood and portions of unincorporated St. Louis County. If you are unsure what District you reside in, you can e-mail us and we can look up your address.

Q. Why do I need a fire permit when I have a building permit?

A. State statutes assign the responsibility of fire protection to Fire Protection Districts. Therefore, Fire Protection Districts are responsible for adopting and enforcing Fire Codes. Fire Permits enable Fire Protection Districts to perform inspections that ensure your home and property comply with the adopted Fire Codes for fire and life-safety.

To help insure the safety, health and welfare; and, in general, to secure safety to life and property from all hazards incident to the design, erection, repair, or use and occupancy of all buildings, structures or premises in the Monarch Fire Protection District, we have adopted Ordinance No. 31 The Fire Prevention Code.

Unlike any building departments in our jurisdiction, the Monarch Fire Protection District requires all of our Inspectors to be Missouri State Certified Fire Inspectors. This assures that we have the expertise to recognize potential fire hazards, and to help provide solutions to mitigate these hazards. Further, Monarch Fire Inspectors have expert knowledge regarding the principles of combustion and fire growth such as the combustion process – or how fire works, phases of fire, heat transfer, flame spread, factors affecting fire growth, fire resistance in construction, fire loads, fire containment in buildings, elimination of ignition sources and many other fire related matters.

This has resulted in Monarch Fire Protection District having one of the best fire loss records in Missouri. In fact, Monarch Fire Protection District has received 5 awards in recent years from Operation Life Safety and the Residential Fire Safety Institute for having 0 fire deaths.

Q. Why does a fire truck come to my house when I call for an ambulance?

A. This question requires an explanation of the systems that are employed in order to provide emergency services.

When citizens of the Monarch Fire Protection District call to report an emergency the call is routed to Central County 911. This is the alarm company used by most West St. Louis County Fire Districts.

As the alarm is being dispatched, Central County 911 dispatchers perform an interrogation of the caller. Central County 911 dispatchers are Emergency Medical Dispatchers (EMDs). EMDs are trained to perform an interrogation of callers for the purpose of giving first aid instructions and determining the level of response necessary to handle the emergency.

Part of this process includes a determination as to the severity of the emergency. The distinctions that are commonly used are urgent emergency and immediate life-threatening emergency. Immediate life-threats require more resources than urgent emergencies. When the dispatcher has judged an alarm to be a possible life-threat additional resources are dispatched. This would include a Monarch Fire Truck or Rescue Truck.

There are occasions when the closest Life Support Vehicle is on another alarm and not available. For this occurrence, a Fire Truck or Rescue Truck is dispatched as well as the nearest Life Support Vehicle. The Monarch Fire Protection District requires licensed paramedics as a hiring prerequisite. This affords us the opportunity to provide Advanced Life Support from fire and rescue equipment as well as our Life Support Vehicles. This allows life-saving tools and talent to arrive to your emergency in the quickest amount of time.

Monarch’s philosophy is to provide the tools and the talent to your emergency as quickly as possible.