Santa Cruz Fire is the career fire department of the City of Santa Cruz, California, a coastal city of about 64,000 residents on the north shore of Monterey Bay. The department operates four fire stations — including Station 4 on the UC Santa Cruz campus — plus a lifeguard headquarters at the Municipal Wharf, running four engines, a Type 3 engine, and a truck. More than 60 staff members work as firefighter/paramedics, captains, battalion chiefs, and fire prevention, training, and administrative personnel, joined by about 70 seasonal lifeguards.

Services span structure and wildland fire suppression, paramedic-level emergency medical response, hazardous materials response, technical rescue, and marine rescue. The department handled 9,438 calls in 2024, the majority of them EMS, and its prevention staff carry out state-mandated life-safety inspections of schools, multi-family housing, hotels, and residential care facilities.

The Marine Safety Division staffs city beaches from Cowell's Beach to the San Lorenzo River daily through the summer and on spring and fall weekends, and its Marine Rescue Unit responds around the clock, year-round, to ocean emergencies. On the wildland side, the department maintains the city's Wildfire Resiliency Plan and publishes fire hazard severity zone maps for the local wildland-urban interface.

How to get hired

Sworn hiring runs through the City of Santa Cruz job portal on GovernmentJobs, and some recruitments — like the 2026 Deputy Fire Marshal opening — are promotional, limited to current city employees. Appointments to Firefighter bargaining-unit positions carry a twelve-month probationary period, and selected candidates complete a pre-employment medical exam and fingerprinting before hire.

Seasonal hiring is separate: the Marine Safety Division takes Beach Lifeguard applications at Lifeguard Headquarters on the Municipal Wharf, with an ocean-skills physical agility test the department describes as extremely challenging, and the Marine Rescue Unit accepts applications year-round, testing and filling positions as needed.

Benefits

Fire bargaining-unit benefits, per the city's published summary:

CalPERS 2.7% @ 57 retirement (three-year average final compensation); employees contribute 15.75% of salary pre-tax and vest at five years; no Social Security
Medical at minimal employee cost depending on plan; city-paid dental, vision, and employee assistance coverage for employee and family
$30,000 city-paid life insurance; city pays 80% of the long-term disability premium
5% bilingual pay; 56-hour employees accrue 192 holiday hours per year, 12 sick hours per month, and 12–24 vacation hours per month by tenure

Leadership & hiring contacts

Rob Oatey

Fire Chief

Good to know

Does the Santa Cruz Fire Department hire ocean lifeguards?

Yes. The Marine Safety Division hires seasonal Beach Lifeguards, with applications handled at Lifeguard Headquarters at #1 Municipal Wharf. The physical agility test is extremely challenging — the department advises solid ocean swimming skills and regular training before tryout dates — and Beach Lifeguard II positions require EMT/AED certification.

What is the Santa Cruz Fire Department Marine Rescue Unit?

A year-round unit providing 24-hour response to ocean emergencies and rescues. Members must live within a 10-minute response time of the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf and have a strong aquatic background; prior ocean lifeguarding experience is highly desirable. Applications are accepted year-round, with testing held as positions are needed.

What kinds of calls does the Santa Cruz Fire Department respond to?

In 2024 the department ran 9,438 calls: 5,565 EMS calls, 305 fires (including 31 structure fires and 183 outside fires), 27 fire investigations, and about 3,600 other calls.