A fire department or fire brigade, also known as a fire company, fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression services as well as other rescue services.
The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) is the full-service fire department of New York City, serving all five boroughs. The FDNY is responsible for fire suppression and fire prevention, and is a major provider of EMS services in New York City. Beyond fire suppression and EMS, the FDNY is responsible for a broad range of services, including technical rescue, CBRN defense, and structural collapse response and analysis.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD) provides firefighting and emergency medical services for the unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County, California, as well as 59 cities through contracting, including the city of La Habra, which is located in Orange County and is the first city outside of Los Angeles County to contract with LACoFD.
The Arlington County Fire Department (ACFD) provides fire, emergency medical, and allied public safety services for Arlington County and the City of Falls Church in Virginia, USA. It is highly regarded within the profession as an innovator and leader in enhancing the industry. Among its many firsts are the hiring of the first female career firefighter in the world in 1974 and partnering with the United States Public Health Service to develop America's first Metropolitan Medical Strike Team to respond to the consequences of a chemical, biological or radiological terrorist attack.
Palm Beach County Fire Rescue (PBCFR) is one of the largest fire departments in the state of Florida. With 52 stations, Palm Beach County Fire Rescue provides fire protection, Advanced Life Support, emergency medical services, technical rescue, hazardous materials' mitigation, aircraft rescue/firefighting, fire investigation, and 911 dispatching for unincorporated parts of Palm Beach County, Florida as well as 19 cities under contract.
The Seattle Fire Department provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the city of Seattle, Washington, United States. The department is responsible for an area of 142.5 square miles (369 km2), including 193 miles (311 km) of waterfront, with a population of 713,700. There is a total of 1,065 employees with 981 uniformed personnel and 84 civilian employees.
As firefighting has a rich history throughout the world, traditions in this profession vary widely from country to country.
The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD) is the full-service fire department of San Diego, California. It was established on August 5, 1889. The department responds to over 183,000 calls per year. It covers 343 square miles of service area, including 17 miles of coastline. It is the second-largest municipal fire department in California, after the Los Angeles Fire Department.
The Orange Fire Department (OFD) provides fire protection and emergency medical services for the city of Orange, California. The department is responsible for a population of approximately 140,000 people spread across 27 square miles (70 km2). Along with their standard firefighting apparatus, the department also has a Swiftwater rescue team that is available for deployment anywhere in Orange County.
The Anaheim Fire & Rescue is the agency that provides fire protection and emergency medical services for Anaheim, California.
The Fullerton Fire Department is the agency that provides fire protection and emergency medical services for Fullerton, California. The department is responsible for an area of approximately 22 square miles (57 km2) that has a population of just over 141,874 as of 2020.
Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue Department is the fire and rescue service provider for the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as well as the cities of Wilton Manors and Lazy Lake through service contracts. Additionally the FLFRD is responsible for ARFF at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport. In 2013, the department responded to 44,387 calls for service.
The Prince George's County Fire/EMS Department (PGFD) is a combination career/volunteer county-level agency that provides "..fire prevention, fire protection, emergency medical services, rescue services and community outreach programs" for residents of Prince George's County, Maryland. The department is composed of volunteers from 33 fire companies throughout the county, that are represented by the Prince George's County Volunteer Fire & Rescue Association, as well as career firefighters affiliated with the Prince George's County Professional Firefighters and Paramedics Association, IAFF Local 1619. According to the Firehouse Magazine 2010 Combination Fire Department Run Survey, the Prince George's County Fire/EMS Department covers a response area of approximately 580 miles, protects approximately 900,000 people, and has an annual operating budget of $132 million. Prince George's County Fire/EMS Department responded to 148,506 calls in 2016 according to the 2016 National Run Survey. 29,702 of those calls were fire related and 118,804 that were EMS calls, making Prince George's County Fire/EMS Department the busiest combination fire department in the United States to submit statistics.
Firefighting in the United States dates back to the earliest European colonies in the Americas. Early firefighters were simply community members who would respond to neighborhood fires with buckets. The first dedicated volunteer fire brigade was established in 1736 in Philadelphia. These volunteer companies were often paid by insurance companies in return for protecting their clients.
The District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, established July 1, 1804, provides fire protection and emergency medical service for the District of Columbia, in the United States. An organ of the devolved district government, Fire & EMS is responsible for providing fire suppression, ambulance service and hazardous materials containment for the federal district.
Hillsboro Fire & Rescue is the municipal fire department for the city of Hillsboro in the U.S. state of Oregon. Founded in 1880, the department operates five stations with six companies. The department has 123 members and is led by Chief David Downey.
PulsePoint is a 911-connected mobile app that allows users to view and receive alerts on calls being responded to by fire departments and emergency medical services. The app's main feature, and where its name comes from, is that it sends alerts to users at the same time that dispatchers are sending the call to emergency crews. The goal is to increase the possibility that a victim in cardiac arrest will receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) quickly. The app uses the current location of a user and will alert them if someone in their vicinity is in need of CPR. The app, which interfaces with the local government public safety answering point, will send notifications to users only if the victim is in a public place and only to users that are in the immediate vicinity of the emergency. In February 2017, PulsePoint introduced a professional version called Verified Responder that also alerts in residential settings. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, PulsePoint is run by a public 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation of the same name. As of January 28, 2024, the foundation reported that connected agencies had requested the assistance of 856,000 nearby responders for 255,000 cardiac arrest events.
"PulsePoint is a 501(c)(3) public non-profit foundation building applications that help public safety agencies inform and engage their citizens."
