Members of the Templeton Fire Department fundamental duty is to safeguard life, protect property and preserve the environment.

The Templeton Community Services District Volunteer Fire Department is responsible for providing fire protection and life safety services for all lands and properties within the District boundaries, as well as participating in mutual and automatic aid agreements with various other agencies.

Last year, the Fire Department responded to 531 calls, for an average of 44 calls per month, of which 361 of the calls were medical incidents.

The Fire Department Fund receives revenues from facility fees, property tax, inspection fees and earned interest from cash flow reserves.

The community of Templeton formalized their fire department at a Board of Trade (the only local governing body at the time) meeting on April 12, 1909. Fifty years later the Department was officially chartered as a fire district by the State of California.

A resident of Templeton during those early years stated the Department had no former membership, “whenever the fire bell rang, everyone who was available came out to fight the fire.” The only piece of apparatus the department maintained was a chemical hand drawn cart. In 1936, Templeton purchased its first motorized piece of fire apparatus.

In 1976, the Templeton Fire District merged with other local services when the Templeton Community Services District (TCSD) was formed. In 1998, a full-time paid Fire Chief was hired. Currently, the Department’s ISO rating is a 5, however the Department is committed to lowering this rating and has taken the necessary steps to accomplish this goal.

The Department is responsible for over 4.0 square miles of residential, commercial, and industrial properties. Most non-residential development supports the North San Luis Obispo County’s only hospital, which is located in the heart of the community. Over one-half the Department’s area includes State Responsibility Area wildlands. The Department borders the State/County Fire Department. The Templeton Fire Department maintains Auto-aid agreements with its neighbors, as well as participates in the State and County and Mutual Aid agreements.

From those early days of the hand drawn cart, the Templeton Fire Department has evolved into a modern, sophisticated, skilled organization. Department personnel are trained in Basic Life Support and each piece of apparatus maintains an automatic defibrillator. Advance Life Support (Paramedics) is contracted through the San Luis Ambulance Service. For more than 90 years the Templeton Volunteer Firefighters have been answering their neighbors’ calls for help, last year responding to nearly 531 incidents involving fires, emergency medical and other emergency services, doubling the number of responses of just 10 years ago. The apparatus and equipment is top notch and the Department’s firefighters take great pride in maintaining all equipment to high standards.

Dispatch of the firefighters is accomplished through a sophisticated paging system with dispatch services contracted through the San Luis Interagency Command Center. The Department’s average response time from the time our firefighters receive the call to the first unit arriving is 4.7 minutes.

The tradition of the Fire Service across our nation has always been one of overflowing pride, bravery, and a sense of duty. The Firefighters of the Templeton Fire Department believe our fundamental duty is to safeguard life, protect property and preserve the environment striving to maintain the highest standards of integrity, performing to the best of our abilities, and conducting ourselves at all times in such a manner as to create respect for ourselves, the fire department and the community of Templeton.