Fred Harvell, Lt., Ret'd. founded the Division's Honor Guard in 1994. Lt. Harvell also designed the Department Flag. Lt. Richardson became the Commander when Lt. Harvell retired in 1996. Lt. Benji Harris took over as Commander in 1999 upon Lt. Richardson's retirement and remained Commander until 2007. In the year 2000, FF Retired Kay Tacy was the first female member to join our team, followed by Assistant Fire Marshal Angelia Foxe in 2004, Lt. Catherine Jones in 2006, and FF Carrie Ward in 2007. These four women became the first female squad and debuted in February 2007 in front of thousands at the Hampton Coliseum to present colors at a national recognized event. In 2006 the Honor Guard's first Deputy Commander, FF Carlton Lee Durham, Sr., was appointed and became Commander in 2007. The first female Deputy Commander, Assistant Fire Marshal Angelia Foxe, was appointed shortly thereafter . The current Commander is a member of the National Honor Guard Commander's Association. The Honor Guard currently consists of 10 members and is headed by Deputy Chief George Morgan.

The Honor Guard participates in funeral services of fire service personnel as well as other honorable dignitaries. We volunteered to serve as casket guards for Retired Master Diver Carl Brashear in 2007 as an honorable duty to his family.

The Honor Guard participates in flag presentations (American Flag, State Flag, City Flag, Department Flag) in events, such as graduations, parades, promotional ceremonies, and conferences just to name a few. The Honor Guard also participates in memorial services on a local, state, and national levels, most notably, the State Fallen Firefighter Memorial, the National Fallen Firefighter Memorial held in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and most recently the EMS Memorial Services in Roanoke, Virginina, and the IAFF Memorial Service in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

In 2007, both the Commander and Deputy Commander attended the National Honor Guard Academy which places their names on the National Honor Guard Registry so that our services can be utilized nationally. We also participated in our FIRST Honor Guard demonstration/competition in Ocean City, Maryland and have been asked to participate in future competitions.

By request, the Honor Guard will participate in those events specified above depending upon availability. If you would like to have the Honor Guard partake in a function you are sponsoring, please contact Commander FF Carlton Lee Durham, Sr. at (757) 771-8082 or Assistant Fire Marshal Angelia Foxe at (757) 727-1210.

Our commitment to Division employees and their families contributed to the re-establishment of a Critical Incident Stress Management Team (CISM) in October 2004. The new CISM Team, under the direction of Btn. Chief Reeves-Nobles, received training from an affiliate of the International Critical Incident Stress Management Foundation. The National Foundation is responsible for education, training, and support services for all Emergency Services professions.

The Division's team is trained to respond to critical incidents experienced by emergency service workers. Team members will offer individual and group crisis support and help to determine if an employee needs additional assistance, guiding them to the needed support through the City's EAP provider or other support services. An on-call rotation system allows employees greater accessibility to team members. New recruits are also addressed as a part of their employee orientation and informed of how to access services offered by the team.

Members of the team demonstrate a commitment to excellence in the delivery of critical services to all division employees. The team's goal is simple-to defuse, and to debrief. The defusing processes are designed to mitigate the psychological impact of a traumatic event, prevent the subsequent development of a post-traumatic event, prevent the subsequent development of post-traumatic syndrome, and serve as an early identification mechanism for individuals who require professional mental health follow-up. Debriefing involves group meetings or discussions about a traumatic event. It may also include techniques to assist with reduction and avoidance of stressors, and techniques to reappraise stressors.

Hampton's Dive Team combines career and volunteer personnel from the Division as well as Police Department personnel. The team consists of divers and rescue swimmers whose primary goal is to save lives and property involved in marine incidents. This requires specialized training in rescue swimming, cold-water near-drowning situations, underwater evidence detection and collection, victim retrieval and in-water fire fighting.

All members of the team volunteer their time and are on 24-hour call.

The Fire Division took delivery of its 30 foot; class "C" fire boat in February 2006. This vessel is capable of supporting fire suppression, water supply, Advance Life Support patient care, dive rescue and environmental protection reconnaissance and containment. The vessel has high-speed capability for rapid response and great maneuverability for close quarter operations. The vessel has been designated as Marine 2 and will be deployed from Old Point Comfort Marina Fort Monroe. Personnel assigned to Fire Station #2 in Phoebus will staff the boat when it is deployed for water related operations.

The Hazardous Materials Bureau is responsible for the protection of the environment. This is accomplished by:

1. Maintaining an inventory of sites where hazardous materials are stored and/or used in accordance with the Superfund Amendment and Reauthorization Act (SARA) also know as the citizen's right to know law.
2. Advise citizens on how to properly dispose of household hazardous waste.
3. Examples:
   1. Waste oil, gas and antifreeze
   2. Pesticides
   3. Car batteries
   4. Household chemicals
4. Sick Buildings: Complaints of strange odors or building populations getting ill.
5. Carbon Monoxide problems
6. Unknown chemicals
7. Chemical emergencies: Spills, releases and threatened releases
8. Illegal dumping of oil, chemicals or other hazardous materials
9. Oil spills
10. Major gas leaks
11. Unexploded ordnance, old bullets and powder

For marine oil spill information please see:
US Coast Guard Oil Spill Prevention Page.

Hampton Division of Fire & Rescue began its tactical medicine relationship with the Division of Police in late 2001. The original six medics were not only the first in Hampton, but also for the Peninsula. Tactical Medic team members are responsible for total team management care, tactical and combat medicine education, medical threat assessments prior to missions, coordination of Fire Division support during incidents and briefing the SWAT team on medical considerations. Training includes the Police Divisions Basic SWAT/MRT School, Heckler & Koch (H&K) Tactical Emergency Medicine Course, semi-automatic pistol, shotgun and submachine gun qualification and monthly training that is both rigorous and highly educational.