For more than 120 years, the firefighters of the Oceanside Fire Department have had the privilege of serving one of Southern California's most active and popular coastal communities. Its firefighters are well known regionally as being highly skilled, capable, and aggressive when it comes to firefighting. This legacy has been handed down from Oceanside's first firefighters as they lived in the Wild West of the late 1800s, fighting blazes similar to those of today but with dungarees, cowboy boots, and nothing to guide them but instinct and bravery. Today a force of more than 100 modern, paramedic-trained firefighters protect over 180,000 Oceanside residents and visitors 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
