City Of Seaside Fire Department

The Seaside Fire Department is an all-hazards city department covering Seaside and, under contract, the adjoining city of Del Rey Oaks at the southern end of Monterey Bay — a 6,408-acre service area with roughly 36,000 residents between the two cities (2016 estimates). All service runs from one station at 1635 Broadway Avenue, where 25 full-time and 5 reserve firefighters staff a first-due engine, a first-due quint, and an incident command vehicle, handling an average of 2,896 calls a year. Daily staffing is a chief officer plus three- to four-person engine and truck companies.

Beyond suppression and basic life support EMS (the department responds alongside a paramedic ambulance), Seaside Fire operates a Cal OES Type II hazardous materials unit — in cooperation with Cal OES, Salinas Fire Department, and Monterey County Environmental Health it covers hazmat response for all of Monterey and San Benito counties plus statewide mutual aid requests. The department also deploys on local, state, and federal wildland assignments and runs basic and technical rescue, fire investigation, community risk reduction, and public education programs.

The department was established as a county fire district in 1940 and came under city control when Seaside incorporated in 1954. During the Second World War its firefighting was largely carried by the wives of volunteers serving in the armed forces; it has operated from its current Broadway Avenue home since the 1980s.

Career hiring runs through City of Seaside Human Resources: openings post to the city's GovernmentJobs (NeoGov) portal, and the department's Join SSFD page directs candidates to file a job interest card with HR to be notified when a recruitment opens.

The department also fields volunteer reserve firefighters who support emergency operations, fire prevention, and public education. The most recent reserve recruitment (2026) required applicants to be at least 18 with a high school diploma or GED, a valid California driver's license, a CPAT card issued within the prior 12 months, and a current California or National Registry EMT-Basic certification, with primary residence in Monterey, San Benito, or Santa Cruz County. Selection ran written exam, panel interview, then a final departmental interview, with the first 100 qualified applicants invited forward.