Our members are on duty twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.  The Operations Division consists of Firefighters, Firefighter/Emergency Medical Technicians, Firefighter/Paramedics, Fire Captains, and Battalion Chiefs; while the Communications Division consists of Public Safety Dispatchers, Communications Supervisors, and an E911 Coordinator. 

With our ever increasing population base, the demands for our services are also increasing.  In an effort to keep pace with these demands, our department is continuously striving to challenge the status quo and improve our service delivery.   

Our operational command staff consists of the Division Chief of Operations and nine Battalion Chiefs who serve as command officers managing and controlling all of our emergency response resources in the City.  This includes our fire stations, fire engines, ladder trucks, rescue trucks, supervisory vehicles, and specialty response vehicles.   

The men and women who respond to all emergencies are directly supervised by Fire Captains and Rescue Lieutenants.   The Fire Captains serve as the officers in charge of each of our 6 fire stations.  Our Rescue Lieutenants serve as the medical authority during medical emergencies and work directly with our Advanced Life Support Rescue Companies. 

Our City is divided into two Battalions and they are separated into the East Battalion and the West Battalion.  Each Battalion has three fire stations.  Battalion 69 (East Battalion) consists of one Battalion Chief, one Rescue Lieutenant, three Engine Companies, one Ladder Company, four Rescue Companies, one Tactical Support Vehicle for large scale incidents and one Crash Truck to serve North Perry Airport.  Battalion 99 (West Battalion) consists of one Battalion Chief, one Rescue Lieutenant, three Engine Companies and three Rescue Companies.  

All of our members are qualified and cross trained to respond on any of our Fire, Rescue, and Support apparatus.  All companies are manned with equally qualified personnel.  Our Advanced Life Support Engine Companies are utilized in a dual role for providing both fire suppression and medical treatment, which helps to supplement and support our Advanced Life Support Rescue Companies.

We pride ourselves on the fact that our fire department has received and maintains a Class 1 Rating which is the highest rating issued by the Insurance Services Organization.  The Insurance Services Organization is a national organization responsible for reviewing fire departments throughout the country.  Their assigned ratings help determine insurance premium levels for properties located in the City.     

The men and women of our Communications Division provide alarm dispatch and communication services for our entire department.  It consists of an E911 Communications Coordinator, four Communications Supervisors, and fourteen Public Safety Dispatchers who are crossed trained as Call Takers and Dispatchers.  Along with receiving 911 emergency calls, dispatching emergency vehicles, and providing constant radio communications, our Communications Division supports and maintains our Mobile Data Terminals which are installed in each of our emergency response vehicles.  These Mobile Data Terminals provide our units in the field with tactical, response and tracking information along with a secondary means of communication.  Additionally, we have automatic vehicle locators installed in each of our emergency response vehicles which in the near future will provide us, through global satellite positioning, with the closest and most appropriate units available for each emergency. 

Together the Operations and Communications Divisions are poised and ready to respond at a moments notice.  They are staffed with highly trained professionals, eager to serve our community to the best of their abilities.  Although our hope is that our services will never be needed, our residents can rest assured that we are staffed, trained and fully equipped to assist them in their time of need.                   

- Division Chief Shawn Gilmartin