The primary goal of the Operations Division is to protect life, property, and the environment. The division is staffed with well-trained personnel and teams with diverse and highly specialized skill sets to meet the wide ranging demands of the District. Because our firefighters are the first responders to people in need, District firefighters provide many other valuable services to the community in addition to fire suppression. These services include emergency medical treatment and transport, technical swift water, trench collapse, building collapse, and confined space rescue, along with hazardous materials releases. On a daily basis the division staffs and coordinates five stations, including engines, ladder trucks, a rescue truck, advanced life support ambulances, and other specialized support units. Daily operation staffing is a minimum of 27 personnel.

Structural 1st alarm fire responses include 5 engines, one ladder truck, one rescue truck, two ALS ambulances, a Battalion Chief, and a duty chief. In non-hydrant areas, additional tankers from neighboring departments are dispatched. These operations are supplemented by additional District chief officers, a public information officer, and fire investigators.

Under the general guidance of the Assistant Chief Les Crews, the division is managed on a 24/7/365 basis by three battalion chiefs: Ed Fassler, Dave Schmitt and Bill Long. Serving the community around the clock, operations personnel are on duty and at your service every second of every day.

The Monarch Fire Protection District provides prehospital medical care to 7 governmental entities covering 62.7 square miles. The delivery of state of the art patient care is provided by 105 state certified emergency care providers who are supported by 20+ firefighters and staff members. The emergency medical services division is overseen by 3 EMS Captains who work closely with the on duty Engine House Captains, who then report to the On Duty Battalion Chief, who reports to the Deputy Chief of the EMS division.

The District operates 4 fully equipped Advanced Life Support (ALS) Units including 2 paramedics, and maintains 2 ALS units in reserve. The District ALS units are equipped with state of the art tools of the trade including, the Auto pulse, a resuscitation adjunct. All engines and trucks are staffed with at least one paramedic and fully capable of beginning advanced medical care until an ambulance arrives on scene.

The delivery of exceptional emergency medical services in a partially rural area sometimes involves calling for the assistance of specially equipped medevac helicopters staffed and trained to deal with special prehospital situations. Monarch FPD routinely deals with these providers in order to assure rapid transport of critical patients from remote locations or to avoid delays in transport. Intensive in-service training classes are conducted with the helicopter service providers to ensure the safety of our patients, district personnel and the helicopter crews.

The Monarch FPD is a participant in a group of medical care providers overseen by Mercy Hospital – St. Louis, which serves as our Medical control, providing oversight in training and treatment protocols.

This conglomeration of prehospital EMS care providers is dedicated to the values of quality patient care, teamwork and innovation.

Our District also participates in an enhanced 9-1-1 system that captures, controls and protects patient care information for use in monitoring, evaluating and providing the best possible care to our citizens. The Monarch FPD is committed to the protection of an individual’s private patient healthcare information and maintains a comprehensive patient information policy Privacy Practices Notice.

If you have a need for release of private medical information, please click this link to access our HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act) release form HIPAA Release Form.

For more information contact the Emergency Medical Services Staff.

The Monarch Fire Protection District Training Division is by far the most important support program to the Department, and as such, is responsible for the on-going training of all department personnel including: Suppression, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Special Operations involving; Heavy Rescue, HazMat, Tactical Medic, Special Operations Air Rescue (SOAR), and Boat Operations, Fire Prevention, Management and Administration.  The Training Division is staffed with one Division Chief and three Shift Training Officers.

With the numerous requirements placed upon the fire service today by the many regulatory agencies (NFPA, ISO, OSHA, ANSI, Missouri State DFS, State and Federal EMS, HazMat), the Training Division coordinates the training needed to comply with established regulations.  ISO requires a minimum of ten, two-hour drills on fire related subjects per month, per crew, for an annual total of 240 hours, this includes multi-company drill, single company drills, night drills, hands-on evolutions and live fire fighting drills.  At the end of each year, a needs assessment is done for the upcoming year’s training needs.

The Training Division maintains an active role in mutual aid and regional training being the host site for numerous classes each year.  We are active in the St. Louis Region Training Officer’s Association and involved in training issues at the Missouri State level as well.  These valuable resources assist the Training Division is fulfilling its mission to ensure District personnel provide a high level of services to the community and return home safely at the end of each shift.