Fire and Rescue Operations in the City of Kearney is conducted by a combination of volunteer fire fighters and paid fire engineers. All members carry their bunker gear and a fire pager which notifies them of an emergency. When the pager alerts, all available volunteer fire fighters respond directly to the emergency scene, and the on-duty fire engineers immediately respond to the scene with the appropriate apparatus from one or all three fire stations. The emergency response procedures for emergencies outside of the City of Kearney are slightly different. Due to the need for additional equipment and water supply, all available volunteer fire fighters respond to the fire stations and take the appropriate apparatus to the emergency scene.
Fire Station #1 and Fire Station #2 are manned by qualified fire engineers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Fire Station #3 is located at the Kearney Regional Airport. It is a dual response station for City and Airport emergencies. This station is typically manned by qualified fire engineers 24 hours a day, days a week.
Riverdale Fire Station is an unmanned station. It consists of a Rural Pumper, Tanker, and a Grass Rig.