The Oceanside Fire Department Honor Guard takes great pride in acting as ceremonial representatives for the department as a whole. They participate in parades and ceremonies, as well as funerals and memorial services. They are also present at every fire academy graduation.

Some events they have participated in are:

• Honor & Color Guard for San Diego Padres games
• California Professional Firefighter’s Memorial in Sacramento
• IAFF Firefighter’s Memorial in Colorado Springs, CO
• St Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City
• Color Guard for Vietnam Wall Memorial brought to Oceanside
• Color Guard for Oceanside Mayor and City Council Swear-Ins
• 9/11 Memorials
• Every annual City of Oceanside 4th of July parade
• Numerous firefighter and police (line of duty death) funerals and memorials

Urban Search and Rescue 

If you have a major disaster in your community, Urban Search & Rescue (US&R) is on the scene to help. US&R is a rapid deployment team consisting of 70 technical rescue, and incident management specialists.

The San Diego task force is specially trained to assist local agencies throughout the nation in mitigating large scale urban disasters, both natural and man made. Through the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, the City of San Diego coordinates San Diego County’s Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Task Force 8.

The San Diego teams’ expertise is “confined space search and rescue” where structures have collapsed. San Diego team members have been dispatched to the World Trade Center after 9/11 2001, the Northridge earthquake in 1994, the 1995 Oklahoma City Federal Building Bombing and several hurricanes, including when Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana in 2005.

Members of the team come from a large variety of emergency and non-emergency agencies and companies in the greater San Diego County Region:

• Balboa Naval Hospital San Diego
• California Dept. of Forestry
• Carlsbad Fire
• Chula Vista Fire
• Coronado Fire
• El Cajon Fire
• Encinitas Fire
• Escondido Fire
• Montebello Police
• Oceanside Fire
• Poway Fire
• Rancho Santa Fe Fire
• Santee Fire
• San Diego City Fire
• San Marcos Fire
• San Miguel Fire Protection District
• San Onofre Fire
• City of Vista Public Works
• Vista Fire

The Urban Search and Rescue system was developed in 1990 by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in response to several disasters which occurred in the 1980’s. The Loma Prieta earthquake, in particular, brought a significant focus on the Federal, State, and local government’s ability to respond to such disasters.

The S.D. County US&R team is sponsored by the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (OES) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Water Rescue

While a majority of ocean and swift water rescues are taken care of by of the Lifeguard Service and Harbor Police, the fire department is equipped and trained to handle such emergencies if called upon. Oceanside’s two coastal firehouses (Station 1 & 2) are designated as swift water rescue stations and have all the equipment necessary to respond to such an emergency.

If needed, the Coast Guard or SDFD Copter 1 can also be utilized for these types of incidents.

Wildland

Due to the City of Oceanside’s locale and vast amounts of wildland interface, the fire departments wildland response is in service year round.

The Oceanside Fire Department currently has two Type 3 brush trucks and 1 water tender. In addition, the city has a mutual aid agreement with Carlsbad, Vista, and Camp Pendleton for reinforcements if needed.

If air support is needed SDFD Copter 1 is the closest resource, with CDF air tankers based minutes away by air from Ramona and Hemet airfields.

All suppression personnel are continuously trained and updated in the latest wildland firefighting and safety procedures, and are equipped with the most modern wildland firefighting equipment.