Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to definitive care. They may also be known as a first aid squad, FAST squad, emergency squad, ambulance squad, ambulance corps, life squad or by other initialisms such as EMAS or EMARS.
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.
A first responder is a person with specialized training who is among the first to arrive and provide assistance or incident resolution at the scene of an emergency. First responders typically include law enforcement officers, emergency medical services members, fire service members and Public Works employees such as Heavy Equipment Operators as well as Public Works Tree Department personnel. In some jurisdictions, emergency department personnel, such as doctors and nurses, are also required to respond to disasters and critical situations, designating them first responders; in other jurisdictions, military and security forces may also be authorized to act as first responders.
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.
Metropolitan Ambulance Services Trust ("MAST") is a former non-profit EMS agency that was the sole ambulance provider for Kansas City, Missouri. On April 25, 2010, MAST was merged into the Kansas City Fire Department to operate as one municipal services department. There are now 21 Statically Deployed ALS transport ambulances deployed from 19 different Fire Stations, with additional Dynamically deployed ALS transport ambulances scheduled throughout each day, totalling 33 dynamic shifts.
As firefighting has a rich history throughout the world, traditions in this profession vary widely from country to country.
Louisville Metro Emergency Medical Services is the primary provider of pre-hospital life support and emergency care within Louisville-Jefferson County, Kentucky. LMEMS is a governmental department that averages 90,000 calls for service, both emergency and non-emergency, each year.
In the United States, emergency medical services (EMS) provide out-of-hospital acute medical care and/or transport to definitive care for those in need. They are regulated at the most basic level by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which sets the minimum standards that all states' EMS providers must meet, and regulated more strictly by individual state governments, which often require higher standards from the services they oversee.
Ambulance Services in Hong Kong are provided by the Hong Kong Fire Services, in co-operation with two other voluntary organisations, the Auxiliary Medical Service and the Hong Kong St. John Ambulance.
Emergency medical services in Iceland include the provision of ambulance service. They provide all emergency ambulance service for a population of in excess of 320,000 people in one of the most sparsely settled countries in Europe. The system is government-funded for the first 85 percent of cost, with 15 percent being charged to the individual as a deterrent fee. All services in Iceland are provided by the Icelandic Red Cross, with individual ambulances often co-located with local fire brigades.
The Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) is the state emergency ambulance and patient transport provider in Queensland, Australia. QAS is part of the Queensland Government under the Queensland Health portfolio and is one of the largest ambulance services in the world.
Ambulance Victoria (AV), a Victorian agency of the Department of Health and Human Services, is the statutory provider of pre-hospital emergency care and ambulance services in Victoria. Ambulance Victoria was formed on 1 July 2008 with the merger of the Metropolitan Ambulance Service (MAS), Rural Ambulance Victoria (RAV), and the Alexandra District Ambulance Service (ADAS). Ambulance Victoria has undergone significant reform since 2008.
The Spring Fire Department (SFD) is a combination fire department located 25 miles (40 km) north of downtown Houston, Texas in the northern part of unincorporated Harris County in the community of Spring, Texas. On April 1, 2020, Harris County Emergency Services District No. 7 became the direct service provider of fire and rescue services to the 165,000 citizens (2023) who live within the 62 square miles served by the district.
Leisure World is a gated, 55+ adult age restricted community located on a county island, in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. The community is sovereign to, and surrounded by, the city of Mesa. Established in 1973, the community consists of nearly 500 condominiums and over 2100 single family residences.
Ambulance Tasmania, formerly known as the Tasmanian Ambulance Service, provides ambulance services in the state of Tasmania, Australia. The service was established by the Ambulance Service Act 1982 and operates within the Department of Health.
Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue (TVF&R) is a special-purpose government fire fighting and emergency services district in the Portland metropolitan area of Oregon. Established in 1989 with a merger between Washington County Fire District 1 and the Tualatin Rural Fire Protection District, it primarily provides fire and emergency medical services in eastern Washington County, but also provides services in neighboring Multnomah, Clackamas, and Yamhill counties. It serves unincorporated areas along with the cities of Beaverton, Tigard, Tualatin, West Linn, Wilsonville, and Sherwood, among others. With over 400 firefighters and 27 fire stations, the district is the second largest fire department in the state and has an annual budget of $197 million.
Washington County Fire District 2 (WCFD2) was a special-purpose government fire fighting and emergency services district in Washington County on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area of Oregon. Established in 1952, it primarily provided fire and emergency medical services in the central portion of the county surrounding Hillsboro, including the city of North Plains. The District had two fire stations when it was absorbed by Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue in 2017.
Vaughan Fire and Rescue Services (VFRS) provides fire protection, technical rescue services, hazardous materials response, and first responder emergency medical assistance to the city of Vaughan, Ontario. It operates 10 fire stations and coordinates with other fire departments in York Region and the Greater Toronto Area. VFRS received a 100 per cent satisfaction rating in the City of Vaughan’s 2018 Citizen Survey.
In the United States, an emergency response fee, also known as fire department charge, fire department service charge, accident response fee, accident fee, Traffic Infraction Accident Fee, ambulance fee, etc., and pejoratively as a crash tax is a fee for emergency services such as firefighting, emergency medical services, environmental response, etc., performed by a local fire department, EMTs, police department, etc., at the scene of a structure fire, wildfire, traffic collision, or other emergency, billed afterward to the surviving property owner or owner(s), operator(s) of the vehicle(s) involved, and/or their insurance companies.
The Sonoma County Fire District is a special district, that provides fire protection, rescue, and emergency medical services to the Town of Windsor, Larkfield-Wikiup, Mark West, Mountain, Middle Rincon, Bennett Valley, Bellevue, Graton Casino, Fulton, Forestville, Bodega Bay, Guerneville and the surrounding unincorporated areas. The Sonoma County Fire District includes 75,000 residents, covers 160 square miles, and is the second busiest fire protection agency in Sonoma County.
