FAQs

To request education, complete an education request form.

No, the WFD does not host or attend birthday parties.

There are three local options to assist you with your smoke alarms.

• Fill out this form to have WFD assist with smoke alarm installation.
• Fill out this form to have the American Red Cross assist with smoke alarm installation.
• Call WFD at 910.342.2731 with any questions about placement, testing, or home safety visits.

Yes, the WFD participates in a statewide diversion program to help get car seat violations dropped. Call 910.342.2731 to begin the process.

Yes. The Wilmington Fire Department Youth Firesetter Prevention, Intervention and Education team can assist in determining the risk of your child acting out with fire again and will provide educational programming in a non-threatening, fact-based manner. The goal of this program is to keep families safe at home and eliminate the behavior of youth playing or experimenting with fire.

All Wilmington and New Hanover County Fire Stations have car seat technicians on duty daily to guide parents and caregivers through the installation process. BuckleUpNC gives you a list of all regional permanent checking stations, including their address and phone numbers.

Yes, you can safely surrender a newborn less than 7 days old at any of the WFD stations.
You cannot leave the baby unattended. You must hand the baby off to personnel.

No SHAME. No BLAME. No NAMES.
Find more information at the North Carolina DHHS website.

Cape Fear Public Utility Authority (CFPUA) manages and maintains all public fire hydrants.

Phone: 910.332.6550
Emergency Line: 910.332.6565

Per the City Ordinance below, blocking the fire hydrants in any way is prohibited.

Sec. 3-2. Obstructing hydrant.

No person shall obstruct, with building material or otherwise, any hydrant or fireplug in the city, in
such manner as to interfere with or obstruct the easy approach to the same or its convenient use by
the fire department. (Code 1962, § 9-2; Ord. of 3-4-97, § 1)

To obtain a copy of a fire report, contact the City Clerk at Penny.Spicer-Sidbury@wilmingtonnc.gov.

When there is a fire, the smoke and heated gases rise. When the fire is inside a structure, the smoke and gases rises until it hits something (the ceiling) and then starts to bank down, eventually filling the room or the whole building. It will seep through the cracks and any other opening into the attic area. One of the safest ways for us to ventilate a structure is to cut a hole at the highest point, this will allow the heated gases and smoke to escape like a chimney. Once this is done, the smoke in the living space will start to rise which makes it safer for the tenants and firefighters by cooling the temperature down and increasing visibility.

The City Ordinance, found below, prohibits any kind of outside fire unless you are cooking. If you are cooking, it must be in an approved cooking container, i.e. gas grill, charcoal grill, etc.

Sec. 3-22. Fires within city limits.

It shall be unlawful for any person to build, kindle or maintain a fire, or to burn or caused to be burned any leaves, brush, shrubs, tree limbs, trash, rubbish, hazardous material or substance as defined in section 3-24 of this chapter, or any other like refuse or material upon any street, sidewalk, alley, road, highway, property owned or leased by the city, public right of way or on private property within the corporate limits of the City of Wilmington without a permit issued by the Chief of the Fire Department or his designee. This section shall not apply to the use of open-flame cooking devices used in accordance with the provisions of the North Carolina Fire Prevention Code. (Ord. of 3-4-97, § 1; Ord. No. 0-2002-30, § 1(c), 5-21-02)

When you call 911, a call-taker will ask you questions about your emergency and type in the information. Once this is done, they will route it to the proper console, either fire, police, or EMS. If it is a fire, the fire dispatcher will get on the radio and dispatch the proper units for the emergency.
We hear the call at the station, and drop whatever we are doing to head to the firetruck. We will then put on our bunker gear before we get in the truck. The driver will start towards your location, but we must stop at all red lights and stop signs along the way. We can proceed through the
intersection once all vehicles stop and allow us to move through. When we arrive on scene, we get out of the truck, put on our Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA), gather the needed tools, and then we are ready to go to work.

No, WFD does not fill pools or dunk tanks.

Wilmington has a Class 1 ISO rating. The lower the rating, the lower the homeowners insurance rates are for residents.

The ratings process takes into consideration the community's water distribution system, 911 center communications, and the fire department's resources and ability to utilize these resources at the scene of a structure fire. Incident records, maintenance records, and training records are also evaluated.

No, WFD does not recharge fire extinguishers; however there are several businesses in the area that do provide that service.