Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Miami Dade Fire Rescue Department

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Country
  
United States

County
  
Miami-Dade

Annual calls
  
283,572 (2015)

Stations
  
68

Founded
  
1935

Rescue vehicles
  
54

Battalion
  
14

State
  
Florida

Established
  
1935

Staffing
  
Career

Number of employees
  
2,500

Platforms in use
  
2

Truck
  
20

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaenthumbb

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The Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department (MDFR) provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the unincorporated parts of Miami-Dade County, Florida along with 30 municipalities located within the county. In all the department is responsible for 1,883 square miles (4,880 km2) of land.

Contents

Air Rescue

The Miami-Dade Fire Rescue (MDFR) Air Rescue Bureau provides regional air medical services, search and rescue, aerial firefighting and tactical support to MDFR operations, to those of local municipalities and government agencies at the state and federal level.

MDFR helicopters transport severely injured trauma patients to state approved Level I trauma centers. Flight crews are trained in additional tactical disciplines necessary to deploy personnel and equipment in search and rescue missions, firefighting operations and reconnaissance on large incidents such as wildland fires and catastrophic events.

Current Fleet

Air Rescue operates four Bell Helicopter 412s (BH 412 EPs). Each aircraft is equipped with the following:

  • Patient loading systems normally configured allow the transport of two critical-care patients, with the option to reconfigure for up to six patients in Mass Casualty Incidents (MCIs).
  • An external hoist for helicopter-borne rescues.
  • An external high-power searchlight, "The Night Sun," is used for night operations.
  • MCI Command and Control suitable radio suite.
  • Night Vision Goggle compatible lighting.

    • During the dry season, each aircraft can be configured with a Bambi Bucket for firefighting / water-operations.

    All four helicopter are housed at MDFR fire stations located at both Miami Executive Airport and Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport.

    Urban Search And Rescue (USAR)

    The Miami-Dade Fire Department is the founding member of one of Florida's two FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force. Florida Task Force 1 (FL-TF1) is available to respond to natural or man-made disasters around the county and world and assist with search and rescue, medical support, damage assessment and communications.

    History

    In the early 1980s two fire departments, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue (at that time known as Metro-Dade Fire Rescue) and the Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department, operated under an agreement with the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) of the U.S. State Department to provide international search and rescue assistance in times of disaster. During these early years, assistance was provided to the countries of Mexico, Philippines and Soviet Armenia.

    In 1991, FEMA incorporated a US&R team concept into a federal response plan. Over 20 teams were geographically chosen throughout the country, with local public safety departments as sponsoring agencies. Today, under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) there are 28 national task forces staffed and equipped to provide 24-hour search and rescue operations following earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes and other natural or human-caused disasters.

    Responses

  • Earthquakes 1985 Mexico City 1986 El Salvador 1988 Armenia 1990 Philippines 1997 Venezuela 1999 Colombia 1999 Turkey 1999 Taiwan 2010 Haiti
  • Hurricanes / Weather Disasters 1988 Gilbert, Jamaica 1989 Hugo, Eastern Caribbean 1992 Andrew, Miami 1995 Luis, Caribbean 1995 Marilyn, Caribbean 1995 Opal, North Florida 2000 Belize 2004 Charley, Charlotte County, Florida 2005 Katrina, New Orleans, Louisiana 2008 Gustav, Texas 2008 Ike, Miami-Dade County, Florida
  • Flooding/Weather Disasters 2000 Mozambique
  • Building Explosions 1995 Oklahoma City 1996 Columbo, Sri Lanka 1996 Puerto Rico 2001 Pentagon, Washington, D.C. 2001 World Trade Center, New York
  • Airplane Crash 1995-96 Buga, Colombia 1996 ValuJet Crash, Florida
  • Communications Support 1989 Romania 1991 Northern Iraq & Turkey 1994 Rwanda 1994 Haiti 1995 Montserrat 1995 Sierra Leone 1996 Bosnia 1998 Nairobi, Kenya
  • Building Collapse 2007 Barbados, 2012 Doral, FL

    • Stations and Apparatus

    The MDFR has 68 stations split up in 14 battalions.

    References

    Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA