A snapshot of who we are, where we operate, and the resources we deploy every day to protect and serve the Baraboo area.
Baraboo Area Fire and EMS District (BAFED) was formed on January 1, 2023, by merging the Baraboo Fire Department and Baraboo District Ambulance Service. Today, this all-hazards agency serves six municipalities. Three ambulances are staffed around the clock, with two dedicated to 911 response and a third interfacility ambulance available for emergency response when community demand requires it.
District personnel are made up of career personnel, part-time personnel, paid-per-call firefighters, and mutual-aid partners together form the BAFED response system. Many District responders are cross-trained as firefighters and paramedics or EMTs, allowing them to move between ambulances, fire apparatus, rescue assignments, and interfacility transport as call demand changes.
Crews are cross-staffed, an ambulance crew and a fire crew are not always different people. When calls overlap and more units or additional personnel are required. Available District personnel are assigned where they are needed, and mutual aid can add resources during simultaneous, extended, or specialized incidents.
The District also provides year-round fire, rescue, and Paramedic-level EMS coverage at Devil’s Lake State Park, where changing weather, cliffs, water, ice, remote trails, and heavy visitor traffic can complicate emergency access.
107
APPROXIMATE SQUARE MILES
The District provides fire, rescue, and Paramedic-level EMS for the City of Baraboo, Village of West Baraboo, and the towns of Baraboo, Greenfield, and Fairfield.Paramedic-level EMS is provided by contract to a portion of the Town of Excelsior.
18,093
PRIMARY SERVICE POPULATION
About 2.4 million
AVERAGE ANNUAL DEVIL’S LAKE VISITORS
1,970
APPROXIMATE INCIDENTS
An approximate public snapshot of incidents reported by the District through the National Emergency Response Information System.
NERIS is a reporting system, not a real-time dispatch feed. Counts can change as reports are added or updated, and the current total may lag District activity. Exact incident locations are not displayed.
1,970
APPROXIMATE TOTAL INCIDENTS
149
APPROXIMATE FIRE INCIDENTS
1,821
APPROXIMATE EMS INCIDENTS
EMS
1,821 · 92.4%
Fire
149 · 7.6%
Trained crews respond around the clock to fires, medical emergencies, hazardous materials, severe weather, and technical rescues.
At Devil’s Lake State Park, crews are prepared for incidents involving steep trails, cliffs, water, ice, remote access points, and difficult patient carry-outs. District personnel coordinate with park staff and partner agencies to reach patients, stabilize them, and move them to definitive care.
The District maintains a broad set of fire and rescue capabilities through continuing hands-on training. Some are technical-rescue disciplines; others are core emergency-response functions shaped by local roads, industry, agriculture, waterways, winter conditions, and Devil’s Lake State Park.
Paramedic care brings Advanced Life Support (ALS) assessment and treatment directly to a patient before arrival at the hospital. District paramedics evaluate symptoms and vital signs, obtain and interpret cardiac monitoring, support breathing with advanced airway care, and establish IV access for medications and potentially blood administration.
SEE ALS INTERFACILITY SERVICEA third staffed ambulance handles interfacility transfers and can return to emergency response when call volume requires it.
Medical Emergency Professionals (MEP) provides physician-led prehospital medical direction, clinical protocols, education, and quality improvement for us.
LEARN ABOUT MEP PREHOSPITAL CARE →No department handles every large or simultaneous emergency alone. The Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) lets us request neighboring fire and rescue resources—and provide help to those communities when they need it.
MABAS coordinates additional engines, tenders, specialized teams, and personnel through a shared regional system during complex, extended, or overlapping incidents.
VISIT MABAS DIVISION 131 →Available District resources may assist neighboring agencies while local coverage and changing call demand remain part of the response decision.
When a patient needs the speed and specialty care of air medical transport, out District crews work alongside UW Health Med Flight. Our responders establish a safe landing zone, continue advanced treatment, and coordinate the transfer of care so the patient can move quickly to the right hospital.
