Prairieville Fire Department - Department Information

Originally organized in 1970 the Prairieville Fire Protection District is located along the I-10/US 61 corridor between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. We are situated in the northwestern portion of Ascension Parish approximately 15 miles south of Baton Rouge. Our department is primarily volunteer with a roster of approximately 40 personnel. Full time paid coverage is provided to the area throuth the use of a staff of 13 paid part-time personnel which supplements our volunteer staff by maintaining apparatus, hydrants and performing inspections/pre-fire plans. On average we respond to 92 calls per month the majority of which is EMS related. Our area is mostly residential with approximately 15 percent commercial/light industrial. Our department is funded through four sources (1) Parish wide 1/6th cent sales tax for fire protection and EMS services (2) Private donations directly to PVFD from citizens in our area (3)10mil property tax (4)Parcel Fees of $32 for residences and $100 for commercial structures. Our paid part-time personnel are funded through a contract between Ascension Parish Fire District # 3 and the Prairieville Volunteer Fire Dept. in which funds from the sales tax are used to pay for salaries and related expenses. Ascension Parish is split by the Mississippi River. On December 25, 2003 the Prairieville Fire Department service area was formed into a new fire protection area formally named Ascension Parish Fire District # 3. The formation of a new fire district was motivated by population and busineses growth that have more than doubled in the past 10 years. We currently have an ISO rating of 5 and are due to be rerated in 2005. We have automatic mutual aid dispatched on all structure fires and alarms. Our dispatching is done through the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office Central Dispatch Center which does the dispatching for all agencies in Ascension Parish.