Palm Beach County Fire Rescue

Palm Beach County Fire Rescue

When seconds count, we are just minutes away [1]
Operational area
Country	United States
State	Florida
County	Palm Beach
Agency overview[2]
Established	October 1st 1984
Annual calls	132,716 (2016)
Employees	1,514
Annual budget	$383 million (2017)
Staffing	Career
Fire chief	Jeff Collins
EMS level	ALS
IAFF	2928
Facilities and equipment[2]
Battalions	7
Stations	49
Engines	43
Quints	5
Squads	2 (Special Ops)
Rescues	2 (Special Ops)
Ambulances	53
Tenders	4
HAZMAT	2 (Special Ops)
USAR	2 (Special Ops)
Airport crash	5
Wildland	19
Helicopters	2
Light and air	1
Website
Official website
IAFF website

The Palm Beach County Fire Rescue provides fire protection, emergency medical services, ALS transport and hazardous materials mitigation for unincorporated parts of Palm Beach County, Florida and 19 cities under contract.^[3]

The department is responsible for 1,813 square miles (4,700 km²), providing services to almost 900,000 residents throughout the county.^[4]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, Lantana, Manalapan, Pahokee, Palm Springs, Royal Palm Beach, South Bay, South Palm Beach and Wellington.^[5]

Operations

Combat Operations, Structure and Staffing

The department is made up of 7 battalions which contain anywhere from 3 to 9 fire stations. The battalions are numbered as follows:

• Battalion 1: 7 stations, serving the north county area (Jupiter, Lake Park, Jupiter Farms etc.)
• Battalion 2: 9 stations, serving the western county area (Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, Loxahatchee, etc.),
• Battalion 3: 13 stations, serving the central county area and is divided into 2 districts:
  • District 10: 6 stations, serving Westgtate, Palm Springs, Haverhill, Cloud Lake unincorporated Palm Beach County areas such a Century Village West Palm
  • District 3: 7 stations, serving Lake Worth, Lantana, Manalapan, South Palm Beach, Lake Clarke Shores etc.
• Battalion 4: 8 stations, serving suburban Boynton Beach, Suburban Delray Beach.
• Battalion 5: 7 stations, serving suburban Boca Raton including Boca West, Loggers Run, Mission Bay.
• Battalion 7: 3 stations, serving the Glades area including Pahokee, Canal Point, Belle Glade, South Bay, US27 from Broward to Hendry County lines, John Stretch Park, several sugar mills and agricultural areas, Lake Okeechobee.
• Battalion 9 (Special Operations)- 4 stations, including PBIA and Trauma Hawk.

These units in addition to responding to calls in their immediate districts are also able to respond to special operations calls throughout Palm Beach County. Each of the 7 Battalions is led by a District Chief who is responsible for overseeing ALL operations, budgets, contracts, etc. in their Battalion. District Chiefs are on a day schedule Monday-Friday but are always on call to respond to large scale incidents as needed. P.B.C.F.R. combat personnel work on a 24 on 48 off schedule, there are 3 shifts A,B, and C. Working under the District Chief in each Battalion are the Battalion Chiefs, who are the highest ranking combat officer and also work the 24/48 schedule. Each shift is led by a Battalion Chief. Each Battalion has 2 combat command level officers one being the Battlaion Chief the other being the District Captain. These 2 command officers work together to insure smooth and safe operation on all incidents, training, and oversight/management duties. The District Captain is primarily responsible in overseeing EMS response and training, while the Battalion Chief is primarily responsible for Fire response and training. Both of these officers function in the command structure as single unit resources and command staff. The Battalion Chief and the District Captain oversee the stations in their respective battalions. Each Station is made up of various units but the normal station includes an Engine or Truck company led by a Captain, and a Rescue unit (ALS Transport) led by a Lieutenant.

The numbering or call signs of P.B.C.F.R. units is as follows; Battalion Chiefs are numbered based on the station they are house in or the battalion HQ station, as are the District Captains. An example of this would be the Battalion Chief of Battalion 3/District 3 would be Battalion 91, while the District Captain of the same battalion would be EMS91. The Engine at station 91 is Engine 91, and the Rescue is Rescue 91. Some stations such as Station 23 have 2 rescues housed in the station. In this case the engine would be "Engine 23", the first rescue would be "Rescue 23" and the second rescue would be "Rescue 223". "Battalion 28" and "EMS 28" would be the battalion 2 Battalion Chief and District Captain.

The District Chiefs or the day chiefs that are the highest-ranking officers in each battalion report to the Division Chief of Operations. The Division Chief of Operations is a day chief that works out of headquarters (405 Pike Rd, West Palm Beach). The Division Chief of Operations (Radio Call Sign OPS2) reports to The Deputy Chief of Operations (Radio Call Sign OPS1). This makes up the combat or 911 response and mitigation structure. P.B.C.F.R. has a Training Division with a Division Chief of Training and multiple Staff Captains of training. The department also has a Rescue Division that is led by a District Chief of Rescue and several staff Captains of Rescue. These areas all working together insure the most well trained, highly skilled response to any emergency and the rapid and safe mitigation of well over a hundred thousand responses each year.

Fire Alarm - 1 Engine or ladder

Medical Alarm - 1 Engine or ladder. If it is a station with 2 rescues, the rescue will respond. If it is a station with only 3 personnel, the engine will respond.

Medical (Routine) - 1 Rescue

Medical (Unresponsive, chest pain, difficulty breathing, etc.) - 1 Rescue. However, there are stations that respond the engine and rescue. They are Stations 14,15,16,18,19,20,21,25,26, 27,68.

Medical (Safety Issue) - 1 Rescue, 1 engine or ladder, EMS Unit, Battalion Chief

Medical (Highway) - 2 engines or ladder, 1 rescue, battalion chief

Medical (Cardiac Arrest) - 1 Rescue and Engine or ladder, EMS Unit

Vehicle Accident - 1 engine or ladder, 1 rescue

Vehicle Accident Pedestrian - 1 engine or ladder, 1 rescue, ems and battalion chief

Vehicle Accident Rollover/Fire - 2 Engines, 2 rescues, ems and battalion chief

Structure Fire - 3 Engines, 1 Ladder, 2 Rescues, 1 EMS Unit and 2 Battalion Chiefs. When assignment gets upgraded, district chiefs, chief officers (ops units) and Apparatus Techs are dispatched.

Apparatus get dispatched in alphabetical order. For example if both trucks at station 29 went out, it would be sent out as Rescue 29, Truck 29. If both trucks at Station 23 went out, it would be sent out as Engine 23, Rescue 23.

The order is Engine, Ladder, Rescue, Truck, Tender, EMS Units, Battalion Chief, District Chief, Ops.

Outside fires, car fires, investigations - 1 engine or ladder

• If the districts rescue is on a call, the district engine will respond with the next closest rescue and vice versa.
• When there is a technical rescue and Special Ops 34 is dispatched, the entire Station 34 fleet goes (Engine,Rescue,special ops,ems,battalion chief)
• Stations 17,22,48,52,74 only have 3 personnel, so the crew either has to take the engine or rescue. If it's an MVA, the engine will respond with a 2nd due rescue. If it is a serious medical call, vice versa.
• Station 30, 44, 56 have 5 personnel. There is 1 engine and 2 rescues. The engine is staffed with 3 personnel, Rescues 230,244,256 are staffed with 2 personnel and are first out. If a 2nd call comes in, and the engine crew is at the station they will take the engine if warranted or take Rescues 30,44,56.

Special Ops

The department has two special operations apparatus. These multipurpose units function as heavy rescues, HazMats, USAR and rescue squads. Locate at stations 19 and 34, they are responsible for hazardous materials incidents, dive rescue, confined space rescue and high angle rescue.^[6] They also assist the Sheriff's Office's Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team.^[7] The units also function as mobile command center on extended operations.

Airport Operations

The PBCFR is responsible for providing aircraft rescue and firefighting for the Palm Beach International Airport, one the 50 busiest airports in the United States. The station which is located near the center of the airport grounds, is home to 13 pieces of specialized fire fighting equipment.^[8]

These apparatus include:

• An air stair which allows for assistance in deplaning in an emergency.^[9]
• Five Airport crash tenders that go by the call sign Dragon (Dragon 1, Dragon 2, etc.).^[10]
• A foam unit that carries Purple-K concentrate to assist with extinguishing a fire.^[11]
• A heavy rescue vehicle that carries additional tools for a plane crash and other mass-casualty incidents.^[12]

Trauma Hawk

Trauma Hawk 1 at its hangar at Palm Beach International Airport.

The Palm Beach County Fire Rescue partners with the Palm Beach County Health Care District to operate the Trauma Hawk Aero-Medical Program.^[13] The Trauma Hawk program, established in November 1990, replaced the use of Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office helicopters to medevac critically injured patients to area hospitals.^[13] At the Trauma Hawk Station, located at the south west corner of Palm Beach International Airport, the department has two Sikorsky S-76C helos.^[14] The air ambulances are identically equipped and can carry two patients each and up to four medical attendants if needed.^[14] Each helicopter is staffed with a pilot, a registered nurse (RN) and a paramedic. The nurses and paramedics are Palm Beach County Fire Rescue employees while the pilots are Health Care District employees.^[13]

Stations and apparatus

Engine 28

Spare 2004 Freightliner/American LaFrance

Brush 28, an off-road vehicle for clearing roads after hurricanes, drafting, and fighting brush and wildfires.

Rescue 53. Rescues 23,24,32,36 are twins

Old Truck 29 working at a house fire. Ladder 73 resembles this truck

Station 33, serving West Palm Beach AKA "The Fire Factory".

Station 52, serving Boca Raton.

Station 47, serving Boynton Beach.

Below is a list of all apparatus and their respective fire stations. This list, physically verified, represents the apparatus roster as of July 2017, which includes newest apparatus and swapped trucks.

The first generation Sutphens from 2009 are noticeable by having double colored red led lenses above the headlights. Siren speakers are in the bumper. The sides of the cab have mini Whelen Freedom light bars.

The second generation Sutphens from 2012 are noticeable by having single clear led lenses above headlights. Siren speakers are in the bumper.

The third generation Sutphens from 2013-2014 are noticeable in many different ways. The electronic siren speaker is hidden behind the grill, the side body of the trucks have the updated black and gold graphics.

The 2017 Sutphens have different lightbars. They have the upgraded Whelen Freedom IV 72" NFPA bars while all previous apparatus had the Freedom II 72" NFPA.

All of the 2014-2016 International/Hortons have a 4 door cab, the updated black and gold graphics. All exterior lights are Whelen M9s except the scene lights which maintain the 900s, and a Freedom II light bar. The 2017 rescues have the Freedom IV roof light bar.

All of the 2012-2013 International/Hortons have only a 2 door cab. No roof light bars, units are only equipped with front facing Whelen M9 light heads. 2012 units have the red and white streak graphics, while 2013 units have the black and gold graphics with the straight stripe.

All of the 2009 International/Hortons have 4 door cabs, Whelen Freedom roof lightbars, with the old red and white streak graphics. They are especially noticeable because the exterior warning lights on the sides and on the rear doors are subsitituted with Federal Quadaflare lights.

References

Coordinates: 26°42′N 80°3′W / 26.700°N 80.050°W / 26.700; -80.050