Three Divisions Comprise the St. Augustine Fire Department

Fire Administration consists of the Fire Chief, who also serves as the City’s emergency manager, and an administrative coordinator. This division is responsible for the supervision and management of the department and its’ two stations, as well as the daily operation and coordination of the various divisions.

Fire Prevention consists of the Assistant Chief / Fire Marshal who is responsible for public education, fire investigation, safety inspections of new construction and existing buildings, and construction plan review.

Included are an annual school prevention program, entering its 35th year, a smoke detector give-away program, In-service training for local groups and businesses, a juvenile fire-setter prevention and intervention program, and supplying speakers for civic groups and other meetings.

Firefighting consists of 3 captains, 3 lieutenants, 3 driver engineers and 21 firefighters who are assigned to three 24 hour shifts. Each shift has a captain, lieutenant, driver engineer and 7 firefighters, Fire Station #2 on Anastasia Island is manned by the driver engineer and 2 firefighters.

All department officers are Florida certified Fire Officers and Emergency Medical Technicians. Six firefighters are also Florida certified Municipal Firesafety Inspectors, two are Florida certified Fire & Arson Investigators.

The fire department protects the City’s 14,000 residents and its’ nearly six million annual visitors from fires and natural disasters and provides medical emergency care.

The firefighters respond to an average of 250 calls per month, with an average response time of 4 minutes, resulting in 75% of structure fires being confined and extinguished within the room of fire origin.

Fire Department Personnel:

Provide fire protection and basic life support medical services to City residents with Florida State certified firefighters and emergency medical technicians. Our department provides ALS support to SJCFR (St. Johns County Fire/Rescue) for all medical calls. Automatic Electronic Defibrillators (AED) are carried on the department’s engines, greatly increasing the chances of a patient surviving a heart attack in our community. All department personnel are trained in their use.

Operate jointly with SJCFR as a “Special Hazards Operations Team”, to respond to hazardous materials incidents.

Conduct pre-fire surveys of all commercial buildings annually and of special “targeted”, higher risk buildings semi-annually. This information, used in training and for a more effective emergency response, is carried on each responding fire engine. Each engine is equipped with a laptop that contains all business pre-fire plans, hydrant maps and a street mapping program.

The certified Firesafety inspectors assist the Fire Marshal in completing firesafety inspections of existing commercial buildings. There are over 1100 businesses within the City limits. The department just recently implemented a self-inspection program for low risk occupancies.

Conduct, and maintain the records of, the regular testing of the City’s water supply system for firefighting purposes. All 454 fire hydrants are annually flow tested and examined for needed routine maintenance to assure proper operation.

Complete weekly “in-service” training/education classes as well as attending college level continuing education courses at First Coast Technical Institute and the Florida State Fire College.

Maintain the department’s fire apparatus, stations and equipment. A typical week has Monday set aside for station maintenance, Tuesday through Thursday for training and pre-fire planning, Friday for vehicle maintenance, and Saturday special training and make-up of uncompleted assignment from the previous days. Inspections, pre-fire surveys, hydrant testing, etc. is conducted Monday through Friday, time permitting.

The department has been awarded the Life Safety Achievement Award by the Residential Fire Safety Institute and the Florida State Fire Marshal because our community was free of fire deaths in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. In fact, only one death has occurred in the past 9 years, that being in January of 2002.