The Miami Fire-Rescue Department, also referred to as the City of Miami Department of Fire-Rescue, provides

fire protection Fire protection is the study and practice of mitigating the unwanted effects of potentially destructive fires. It involves the study of the behaviour, compartmentalisation, suppression and investigation of fire and its related emergencies, as we ...

and

emergency medical services 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. ...

for the city of

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. The department is notable for being the first in the nation to equip all apparatus with

two-way radio A two-way radio is a radio that can both transmit and receive radio waves (a transceiver), unlike a broadcast receiver which only receives content. It is an audio (sound) transceiver, a transmitter and receiver in one unit, used for bidirecti ...

s as well as being the first to use

fog nozzle A fog nozzle is a firefighting hose spray nozzle that breaks its stream into small droplets. By doing so, its stream achieves a greater surface area, and thus a greater rate of heat absorption, which, when compared to that of a smoothbore nozzle ...

History

The Miami Fire-Rescue Department was formally created on July 17, 1898 when five men gathered in a Miami bar to remedy, what they saw as, the outrageous cost of

fire insurance Property insurance provides protection against most risks to property, such as fire, theft and some weather damage. This includes specialized forms of insurance such as fire insurance, flood insurance, earthquake insurance, home insurance, or bo ...

in the city. At the time, the premiums in Miami were the highest in the nation, with annual rates at eight percent of a structure's value. This was largely due to the fact that the city, constructed of all wood, had no fire service. In an effort to reduce the cost of insurance, the men agreed to form the volunteer Miami Fire-Rescue Department. In June 1969, the department became the first in the United States to successfully revive a patient in the field through

defibrillation Defibrillation is a treatment for life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias, specifically ventricular fibrillation (V-Fib) and non-perfusing ventricular tachycardia (V-Tach). A defibrillator delivers a dose of electric current (often called a ''cou ...

. By using radio transmission of an

EKG Electrocardiography is the process of producing an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG), a recording of the heart's electrical activity. It is an electrogram of the heart which is a graph of voltage versus time of the electrical activity of the hear ...

, as well as radio contact with doctors at

Jackson Memorial Hospital Jackson Memorial Hospital (also known as "Jackson" or abbreviated "MJMH") is a non-profit, tertiary care hospital, the primary teaching hospital of the University of Miami's School of Medicine, and the largest hospital in the United States with 1,5 ...

and the University of Miami School of Medicine, the

firefighter A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...

s were able to administer a shock to the patient who was revived from a lifeless state. Three years later, the department became the first in the nation to use

military anti-shock trousers Military anti-shock trousers (MAST), or pneumatic anti-shock garments (PASG), are medical devices used to treat severe blood loss. The device is usually applied to the patient's pelvis, abdomen, and lower parts of the body and is composed of man-m ...

(MAST), inflatable pants that force blood from the legs of a patient in

hemorrhagic shock Hypovolemic shock is a form of shock caused by severe hypovolemia (insufficient blood volume or extracellular fluid in the body). It could be the result of severe dehydration through a variety of mechanisms or blood loss. Hypovolemic shock is a ...

to the more vital regions of the body.

USAR Task Force 2

The Miami Fire-Rescue Department is the sponsoring agency for USAR Task Force 2, one of the two

FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force Members of FEMA US&R Task Force at World Trade Center after the 9/11 attacks. A FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force (US&R Task Force) is a team of individuals specializing in urban search and rescue, disaster recovery, and emergency triage a ...

s in the state of Florida. The task force is a 210-member organization deploying teams of seventy rescue workers, search dogs, physicians and structural engineers who travel with of equipment to assist in major disasters. Some of their notable deployments include Hurricane Opal (1995), September 11 attack at the WTC (2001),

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

(2005) and the

2010 Haiti earthquake A disaster, catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (department), Ouest department, a ...

Stations & Apparatus

References

External links

{{coord, 25, 46, 43.43, N, 80, 11, 28.59, W, display=title Ambulance services in the United States Fire departments in Florida Government of Miami Medical and health organizations based in Florida 1898 establishments in Florida