Meet Fire Rescue
Serving With Purpose. Ready Every Day.
The firefighters pictured above represent the men and women of Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue who stand ready around the clock to protect our community.
Since 1912, Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue has grown from a volunteer organization into a modern, full-service fire and rescue agency serving the City of Fort Lauderdale, Wilton Manors, and the Town of Lazy Lake. Today, approximately 450 uniformed personnel carry that tradition forward through emergency response, fire prevention, emergency medical services, special operations, ocean rescue, emergency management, and community preparedness.
Every call is different. The commitment behind every response is the same: protect life, protect property, and provide exceptional service when our community needs us most.
Mission and Vision
Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue exists to protect life, property, and the well-being of the community through highly trained personnel, modern equipment, effective prevention programs, and rapid emergency response.
Our mission is supported by five core values (PRIDE):
- Professionalism: Adaptable, sustainable, and well-equipped service
- Responsibility: Supporting employee health, wellness, development, and readiness
- Integrity: Open communication, public education, accountability, and trust
- Diversity: Reflecting, understanding, and serving the community around us
- Empathy: Delivering compassionate service that meets or exceeds expectations
Our vision is to remain an internationally accredited fire rescue agency recognized for operational excellence, continuous improvement, innovation, and trusted community partnership.
Ready Around the Clock
Behind every emergency response is an extensive system of people, planning, staffing, training, communications, logistics, and command.
The Assistant Chief’s Office at Fire Rescue Headquarters serves as one of the department’s key operational coordination points. One of three rotating shifts is always on duty, providing continuous 24-hour protection throughout Fort Lauderdale, Wilton Manors, and the Town of Lazy Lake.
Command staff and the Battalion Chief on duty oversee emergency activity, staffing, unit availability, operational readiness, and changing conditions across the city. Long before an emergency occurs, firefighters and rescue crews are inspecting equipment, checking apparatus, reviewing response information, training, and preparing for the next call.
Readiness is not something that begins when the alarm sounds. It is built every day.
Emergency Response
Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue operates 12 fire stations and responds to more than 55,000 calls for service each year, making FLFR the busiest fire rescue agency in Broward County.
The department maintains a diverse emergency-response fleet:
- 12 fire suppression units
- 3 aerial ladder trucks
- 17 medical rescue units
- 1 heavy rescue squad
- 1 airport response truck
- 1 hazardous materials unit
- 2 fireboats
These resources allow FLFR personnel to respond to incidents ranging from everyday medical emergencies to complex fires, marine incidents, hazardous-material emergencies, major vehicle crashes, technical rescues, and large-scale disasters.
More Than Firefighting
Modern fire rescue is one of the most diverse public-safety professions in local government.
FLFR provides:
- Fire suppression and prevention
- Advanced and basic life support emergency medical services and transport
- Fire investigation and origin-and-cause determination
- Hazardous materials response
- Dive and marine rescue
- High-angle, trench, confined-space, and technical rescue
- SWAT medical support
- Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting
- Emergency management and disaster response
- Fire inspections and code complianceBuilding plans review
- Community education and preparedness
FLFR personnel train continually for emergencies that may occur every day as well as highly specialized incidents that may happen only once in a career.
Ocean Rescue
Fort Lauderdale’s beaches are among the community’s most visible and heavily visited public spaces.
FLFR Ocean Rescue staffs 20 lifeguard towers seven days a week and helps protect more than 3.5 million beach visitors annually. Lifeguards provide preventive surveillance, water rescue, emergency medical care, public education, and rapid response along Fort Lauderdale’s coastline.
Their work is built around preventing emergencies whenever possible and acting immediately when seconds matter.
Fire Prevention and Community Safety
Some of the department’s most important work happens before an emergency ever occurs.
Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue conducts inspections of commercial and multifamily properties, reviews construction plans for fire and life-safety compliance, investigates fires, educates the public, and works with businesses and property owners to reduce risk throughout the community.
Prevention protects lives, safeguards property, and helps make Fort Lauderdale a safer place to live, work, visit, and invest.
Emergency Management
When a hurricane, major storm, infrastructure failure, or other community-wide emergency threatens Fort Lauderdale, FLFR plays a central role in coordinating the City's response.
The department leads emergency management planning, supports operation of the Emergency Operations Center, coordinates disaster preparedness and recovery activities, and works with Community Emergency Response Teams to strengthen neighborhood-level preparedness.
The goal is simple: prepare before an emergency, coordinate effectively during it, and help the community recover afterward.
Specialized Care When Every Second Counts
Emergency medicine continues to evolve, and FLFR works to bring advanced treatment directly to patients in the field.
The department uses specialized cardiac and medical protocols, including STEMI response and advanced post-cardiac-arrest care, to improve the treatment patients receive before they ever reach the hospital.
FLFR also participates in the regional Fastest Unit Response system, working with neighboring agencies so the closest appropriate emergency unit can respond when help is needed.
Jurisdictional lines should never stand between a patient and the fastest available care.
One Department. Many Teams.
Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue is organized to support both frontline emergency response and the extensive work required behind the scenes to keep those operations functioning.
The department includes the Office of the Chief and Fire Rescue, supported by four major functional bureaus:
- Emergency Response Operations: Fire and EMS response, special operations, staffing, communications, Urban Search and Rescue, Ocean Rescue, and station operations
- Strategic Prevention Services: Fire prevention, emergency management, plans review, accident review, accreditation, and professional standards
- Support Services: Technology, hiring and recruitment, research and development, logistics, equipment, and operational support
- Training/EMS: Emergency medical services, professional development, health and safety, wellness, labor management, legal coordination, capital projects, Mobile Integrated Health, and the C.O.R.E. program
Each bureau is led by a Deputy Fire Chief and supported by specialized teams that work together to keep FLFR ready.
A Commitment That Never Stops
The public often sees the final few minutes of our work: the fire engine arriving, the rescue unit pulling up, the firefighter entering a building, or the lifeguard moving toward the water.
Behind those moments are thousands of hours of preparation.
Firefighters train continually. Apparatus and medical equipment are inspected every day. Engines, rescue units, tools, protective gear, communications systems, stations, and emergency supplies must remain ready for immediate use. Crews study buildings, inspect hazards, practice complex rescue techniques, maintain certifications, and prepare for emergencies they hope never happen.
That preparation has helped FLFR earn recognition for excellence throughout its history. More importantly, it allows the department to deliver the level of service the community expects when a call for help comes in.
Saving Life and Property Since 1912.
More than a century later, that promise remains at the heart of Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue.
Careers in Fire Rescue
Looking for a career built around service, teamwork, challenge, and opportunity?
Explore the Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Career Roadmap(PDF, 2MB) to learn about career paths, specialized assignments, professional development, and opportunities to serve the community.
Contact Recruitment at FLFRRecruitment.