February 2001 Homepage Mutual Aid by Capt.
All fire departments have as part of their mission the protection of life and property.
This is accomplished by providing emergency services to the public. However, many factors affect the degree to which a particular fire department is able to provide all of the services required by a community. Many times, help from other agencies is necessary because the size of an incident has overwhelmed the department's resources, or multiple incidents occur for which the department is unprepared. To address these potential problems, neighboring communities often enter into 'mutual aid' agreements. Mutual aid is a reciprocal agreement between two or more fire protection agencies.