Palm Beach County Fire Rescue is an ISO Class 1 department with 52 stations and one of the largest fire departments in the State of Florida. 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.
History
Palm Beach County Fire Rescue was created on October 1, 1984, when the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners passed a resolution consolidating the existing fire districts in Palm Beach County. Prior to 1984 the following fire districts were in existence, covering the mostly unincorporated Palm Beach County: Jupiter-Tequesta Juno Beach Old Dixie Military Park Southwest Trail Park Reservation Del Trail Canal Point Palm Beach International Airport
Chief Herman W. Brice Fire Rescue Complex
Named after the department's first Fire Chief, the Palm Beach County Fire Rescue Administration and Training complex is a 40-acre complex that houses Fire-Rescue's Administrative offices, training areas, and an apparatus and support building. The complex, located at 405 Pike Road, includes multiple classrooms & conference rooms, a 6-story training tower, a -story Class A burn building, an emergency vehicle driving course, an extrication training area, Urban Search & Rescue (USAR) props, a 10-acre lake for drafting training, and a field of various full-scale liquefied petroleum (LP) gas props.
Structure
The department is made up of 8 battalions, which contain anywhere from 3 to 9 fire stations: Battalion 1: 7 stations: serving the north county area (Jupiter, Juno Beach, Lake Park, Jupiter Farms, Palm Beach Country Estates). Battalion 2: 9 stations: serving the western county area (Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, Loxahatchee/Acreage, Loxahatchee Groves, Westlake). Battalion 3: 7 stations: serving Lake Worth, Lantana, Manalapan, South Palm Beach, Lake Clarke Shores. Battalion 4: 8 stations: serving suburban Boynton Beach, Suburban Delray Beach. Battalion 5: 7 stations: serving suburban Boca Raton (Boca West, Loggers Run, Mission Bay, Sandalfoot Cove). Battalion 7: 3 stations: serving the Glades area (Pahokee, Canal Point, Belle Glade, South Bay). Battalion 9: 3 stations: Station 34, Station 81 (Palm Beach International Airport), and Trauma Hawk. Battalion 10: 6 stations: serving unincorporated West Palm Beach, Lake Worth Beach, Palm Springs, Haverhill, Cloud Lake.
Each Battalion is managed by a District Chief, who oversees all 3 shifts in his/her respective Battalion. At the shift level, each Battalion is supervised by a Battalion Chief and an EMS Captain.
The department operates the following pieces of apparatus:
ALS Engines: 43
ALS Squads: 2
ALS Rescues: 53
ALS Aerials: 6
Tenders: 4
Brush Trucks: 19
Special Operations (Heavy Rescues): 2
Airport Crash (ARFF): 4
Helicopters: 2
Light and Air: 1
Operations
Overview
The department is responsible for , providing services to almost 900,000 residents throughout the county. Along with the unincorporated areas of the county, PBCFR provides services for Belle Glade, Cloud Lake, Glen Ridge, Haverhill, Juno Beach, Jupiter, Lake Clarke Shores, Lake Park, Lake Worth Beach, Lantana, Loxahatchee Groves, Manalapan, Pahokee, Palm Springs, Royal Palm Beach, South Bay, South Palm Beach, Wellington and Westlake.
All line personnel are either dual-certified Firefighter/EMT's or Firefighter/Paramedics. All Engine Companies, Squad Companies, Truck Companies, Ladder Companies, and Rescue Companies are Advanced Life Support (ALS) units, which means that they are staffed daily with Paramedics. The department's daily minimum staffing is 325 Firefighters.