The Brighton Area Fire Department is dedicated to the protection of life and property through safe work practices and policies, training and continuous improvement as set forth by management and administered in a professional and courteous manner through daily interaction with our customer.

The City of Brighton Fire Department was founded in 1876. Then, it was called the Village of Brighton Fire Department and served as an organized bucket brigade.

In 1879, with a population of 800, the village constructed a new town hall next to the Mill Pond on Main Street for a cost of $2,300. The first floor housed the jail and fire department. The second floor accommodated the council chambers and voting room. In 1882, the department purchased a horse drawn hand pumper, which became Brighton’s first fire apparatus.

The Brighton Area Fire Department is a combination department of fulltime, part time and paid-on-call personnel. The Brighton Area Fire Department covers 74 square miles in its response district, with a population of 46,000 residents from City of Brighton, Charter township of Brighton and Genoa Township.

The Brighton Area Fire Department is staffed currently with 65 employees. These position are, 7 fulltime positions, Chief, Deputy Chief, two Fire Inspectors, 2 Dayshift Supervisors, Administration Assistant and 61 paid on call / part time firefighters.

The Brighton Area Fire Department has a dayshift program, Monday thru Friday, 6am to 6pm, that staffs a Fire Officer and 3 Firefighters. These positions are filled by combination of fulltime, paid on call and part time firefighters. The Dayshift program is to insure staffing during the daytime hours when most of our paid on call firefighters are working at their regular jobs.

The Brighton Area Fire Department is funded by a fire millage equaling 1 mill from Genoa Township, Brighton Township and the City of Brighton property taxes. The Brighton Area Fire Department is overseen by the Brighton Area Fire Authority which is made up of 2 board members from each municipality and one citizen. The Brighton Area Fire Board Meetings are held on the 2nd Thursday of every month at 8:00am unless otherwise posted.

Current Brighton Area Fire Authority board members: Kathy Jones (City of Brighton), Kate Lawrence (City of Brighton), Tim Winship (Brighton Township), Geri Harmon (Brighton Township), Gary McCrire (Genoa Township), Jim Mortensen (Genoa Township) and Mike Corrigan (Citizen).