General Information

Mission Statement

To provide the highest level of emergency prevention and preparedness services through effective safety code compliance, educational programs and community service to all who live, work, visit or invest in our community.

SERVICES PROVIDED

The Town of Menasha Fire Department provides many services to the community including but not limited to:

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Why did so many trucks respond?

This is often asked at what appear to be small fires, possible false alarms, or when the fire is reported as being out already.  A typical full response for the Town of Menasha Fire Department would include 3 engine companies, 1 ladder company, 1 rescue company and at least one command vehicle.  Mutual aid engines and personnel may also be called in as early as our initial page from the communications center to ensure proper personnel and equipment staffing–should the need arise.  This may seem like a lot of resources, but there are several reasons why:

• We have to assume the worst case scenario–we can’t take for granted that the fire is ‘small’ or ‘out’.  We must error on the side of safety.
• All large fires start somewhere–as small ones.  Should a fire thought to be out actually flare up or still be burning, wouldn’t you rather have available resources there or on the way rather than have to wait and while more damage is being caused?
• The arriving companies usually have a pre-assigned task–for example, initial attack, manning backup lines, securing & setting up a water supply, provide breathing air, ventilation, search and rescue, establishing a Rapid Intervention Team (RIT) for firefighter rescue operations

We’d like to have the Neenah/Menasha Fire and Life Safety House education trailer for children at our event.  How do we do that?

The Town of Menasha, along with the Cities of Neenah and Menasha and the Town of Neenah, jointly own a  Fire and Life Safety House.  This 32 foot 2 story mobile trailer provides an excellent hands on learning tool for children to learn not only about fire safety but also life safety in the home.  A typical ‘tour’ through the house usually takes about 15 to 20 minutes.  We prefer to have groups of about 5 or 6 kids going through.

Children will learn safety tips relating to fireplaces, space heaters, chemicals, smoke alarms, keeping rooms clean, stoves to name a few.  The big benefit of the unit (and the part the kids really like the best) is it’s ability to teach the kids the importance of ‘two ways out of every room’ using a fog machine to ‘smoke’ the upstairs and have the children try to exit the main bedroom door only to find out it’s (computer controlled) hot so they need to exit the trailer through the window/patio door on and crawl down the ladder to safety.

If you’d like to reserve this unit for your function, please contact Pam Jentz at Station 40 via email or at (920) 720-7125.

What is “Mutual Aid” and “Automatic Aid”?

Automatic Aid is the automatic (non-requested) response of other agencies for assistance.  For example: The Town of Menasha Fire Department has an ‘automatic aid agreement’ with the Town of Grand Chute.  Here’s what it means.  If the Town gets a call for a possible structure fire in the area of the town West of Hwy 41 and North of Hwy 10, or a motor vehicle accident on Hwy 41 North of Hwy 441/10, Grand Chute will be paged out to respond 1 Engine unit automatically.  Given this automatic page and the fact that Grand Chute staffs one Engine 24 hours a day, there is a very good chance that Grand Chute will arrive on scene before we would.

Mutual aid is the calling in of other agencies for assistance.  The Town of Menasha also has signed onto a county wide mutual aid agreement with all departments within Winnebago County and surrounding jurisdictions outside of the county.  This means that if any department in the county calls for any of our apparatus (normally Ladder 40 or Rescue 41) or personnel, we will respond as needed.  Likewise, if we call another department for apparatus or personnel, they would respond as well.  The Town of Menasha Fire Department will respond to any call in any jurisdiction within 25 miles if a specific resource or piece of apparatus (example:  jaws equipment, aerial, breathing air refill) is requested.

We’re having a block party, safety fair, or fire drill in our home or business.  Could we have an apparatus & firefighters come out to show the truck or help with the drill?

The Town of Menasha Fire Department has taken apparatus to both block parties and safety fairs to show the residents and businesses of the community what we have to offer and to show them the equipment we have as well as answer any questions they have.  We also go to fire drills if requested to observe the drill and offer suggestions we may have to make the drill go safer and easier.  The Town of Menasha Fire Department prides itself on its public relations and public education and looks forward to working with you.