Vail Fire and Emergency Services

Vail Fire and Emergency Services was established in 1964. During the first few years of operation, Vail Fire was an all Volunteer department. Since then, it has transitioned into to a full time career department, operating out of three fully staffed fire stations located in East Vail, Main Vail and West Vail. Vail Fire and Emergency Services serves a population of 5,300 residents, 4,400 part-time residents and an upwards of 20,000 guests daily during winter months. In 2015, Vail Fire and Emergency Services responded on nearly 2000 calls for assistance including structure fires, EMS incidents, fire alarms, hazardous material incidents, utility issues, wildland fires, car accidents, and technical rescues within the Town of Vail and along the I-70 corridor from mile marker 171 to 190. Vail Fire also employs a six-person wildland mitigation team from May through October of each year.

Vail Fire and Emergency Services has an agreement with Vail Resorts Inc., operator of Vail Mountain, to provide fire suppression services on Vail Mountain and agreements with districts outside of the Town of Vail's city limits. The Fire Department also has an automatic mutual-aid and regional-aid agreement with all Fire Departments in Eagle County and nine surrounding counties, as well as with the Colorado State Patrol for hazardous materials response along the I-70 corridor.

Fire Chief Mark Novak has been with VFES since January 2015. He previously served as the Assistant Chief with the Tahoe Douglas Fire District in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.

Chief Novak oversees a total of 37 firefighting/administrative personnel (including our Resident Firefighters), a Fire Marshal, and part-time Administrative Assistant.

The Department currently operates four all-wheel drive type I engines, one 75' Aerial Quint, one 85' Tower Ladder, two type 6 wildland engines, three 4x4 utility trucks and one command vehicle.