The La Honda Fire Department is the emergency response portion of the La Honda Fire Brigade. At one point the Brigade was an independent fire department; however, today we are a proud member of the San Mateo County Fire Department.

La Honda Fire is a part of the 911 system and within the County Fire System the Department is known as Volunteer Company 57.

The community of La Honda is roughly centered between the Skyline Ridge (Hwy.-35) and the Pacific Ocean (Hwy.-1) near the cross road of Pescadero Creek Rd. This centralized location to the San Mateo County South Coast gives Company 57 a large initial attack area. The Company’s first due area is to the east between Old La Honda Rd on Hwy. 84 (the Red Barn) and the west to Community San Gregorio and South to the Middleton Tract-Portola State Park area. The northern boundary is geographically undefined and meets with the Initial Attack area of Volunteer Company 56 (Kings Mountain) and the Half Moon Bay Fire Protection District. La Honda Fire’s second due responsibility routinely takes it into the Skylonda Area of San Mateo County as well as the communities of Pescadero and Loma Mar.

La Honda Fire is a Basic Life Support (BLS) Engine Company and responds to all types of non Law enforcement emergencies. They include Structure Fires, Wildland Fires, Medical Aids, Vehicle Accidents, Cliff Rescues, Hazards Material incidents, Confined Space and Trench Rescues, Swift Water Rescues as well as all types of Storm Emergencies. We also respond to non emergency "Public Assistance" type calls such as trees across the road, vehicle lock outs and flooding to a residence.

The department has 16 current members with an authorized strength of 20. The company has two senior officers (a Chief and an Assistant Chief) and three supervising officers (a Captain and two Lieutenants). Our firefighters’ ranks comprise of community members who come from many different backgrounds. We are proud of the diversity and professionalism that they bring to our organization.

All of our officers and experienced firefighters have training that far exceeds the minimum requirements of the San Mateo County Fire Department. The initial training of an new firefighters consists of: a 78 hour Pre-Response class which includes Safety and Orientation, Confined Space, Hazardous Materials, First Responder Operation (FRO) and Emergency Medical First Responder (FRO). At the successful completion of this initial training new firefighters are permitted to respond to certain types of calls under the supervision of an experienced firefighter. New firefighters must also complete, within their first year, a basic structure fire academy.

At no point during our volunteers career does training ever stop. To ensure that the public receives the best possible service, and for our firefighters’ own safety, our firefighters are constantly involved in differing training activities. The department’s regular training consist of two evening and one Sunday morning per month. We also average at least one special training per month which can last from 8 to 24 hours.

The apparatus available for response from Station 57 includes a 1000 gallon per minute Type 2 Structure Engine, a 500 gallon per minute Four Wheel Type 3 Wildland Engine (the only local government owned type 3 engine in the county), a Four Wheel Type 3 Rescue Unit and a 3000 Gallon type 1 Water Tender.

All of the stations apparatus is fully outfitted and available for response twenty four hours a day. Our firefighters are individually issued complete personal protective equipment for medical, structural and Wildland responses.

In order for our Firefighters to know when there is an emergency they all carry radio pagers. When a member of the public in the La Honda area calls 911 for fire department assistance the call first goes to the San Mateo Communication in Redwood City. They will dispatch law enforcement and an ambulance, if needed, within one minute and then the call is then transferred to the CDF/County Fire Emergency Command Center in Felton California. At that point the call is categorized and the appropriate fire department response is dispatched. All of our volunteers respond from their home or wherever they happen to be. We are very proud of this department’ "out the door" time which averages less then three minutes from the time we are dispatched.

Each year La Honda Fire responds to over two hundred calls for assistance making our department the busiest of the San Mateo County Fire Volunteer Companies. Through the mixture of our firefighters regular careers (Engineers, Nurses, Ranchers, Lawyers...etc.) La Honda Fire has not failed to respond to a single call for help in the last five years.