The forces that battled the Florida fires included both structural and wildland fire fighting organizations. Most of the fires originated in rural and wildland areas, however, the ultimate battle occurred in the streets of built-up communities along the Atlantic coast. Both structural and wildland fire protection agencies were involved in every stage of the campaign.
Structural Fire Protection
The structural fire suppression agencies in Florida include a mixture of county and local municipal fire departments and independent fire districts. These fire departments include some fully volunteer and some fully career organizations as well as combination departments. In most cases the fire departments also provide emergency medical service.
The structural fire departments are also responsible for initial attack on wildland fires within their areas, particularly where the fires are close to populated areas and accessible. The more rural areas are almost entirely protected by volunteers and these departments often respond to more outside fires than structure fires. The rural departments work closely with the Florida Division of Forestry (FDF), which has the primary responsibility for wildland fire protection, and often provide support and assistance to the FDF crews that come in to their areas.
The organization of fire departments varies considerably between different counties. The more rural counties, including Flagler and St. Johns, generally depend on volunteer units, which are organized independently or as components of a county fire service. The independent departments are supported to varying degrees by county funds and services, such as fire prevention and training. Most of the counties provide dispatch and communications for the rural fire departments through a county 9-1-1-center.
As the counties increase in population, the county fire departments often begin to provide career personnel to supplement the volunteers or to have career personnel staffing the stations in more populated areas. Some of the more developed counties, such as Brevard and Volusia, have transitioned to primarily career fire departments in built-up areas, supported by volunteers in more rural areas. There are also a few independent fire districts with career personnel serving built-up unincorporated communities, such as Palm Coast in Flager county.
Most of the counties also contain incorporated municipalities that operate their own municipal fire departments. Some of the more populated counties, such as Volusia and Brevard, include a series of contiguous municipalities, interspersed with unincorporated areas, all along the coast. In general, the county fire departments are responsible for unincorporated areas, while the municipal fire departments protect incorporated communities, however, some of the municipalities contract for service from a county fire department. The remaining municipalities either operate their own fire departments or contract with a neighboring municipal fire department.
The municipal departments tend to be more oriented toward structural fire suppression and less oriented toward wildland operations than the county fire departments. The municipal fire departments often operate their own radio and dispatch systems and have limited capabilities to communicate with other fire departments.
Volunteer staffing is a problem in many of the rural areas and particularly problematic in the rapid growth areas. While the populations is growing, it does not provide an adequate supply of residents who are willing to and capable of performing strenuous duty. This is primarily responsible for the trend toward career staffing as areas develop.
Next » Fire Risk
Save to del.icio.us
