Miami-Dade Fire Rescue at a Glance

• David Travis, MPH, EMT-P
• System at a Glance
• 2009 Oct 28

It has truly been a good year for Miami-Dade Fire Rescue (MDFR). Florida's largest fire department and EMS provider was selected as the state's 2009 EMS provider of the year. You may have seen their ALS team compete at this year's JEMS games at the EMS Today conference in Baltimore, where they took first place. The team also won the Bill Shearer International Advanced Life Support Competition this year at CLINCON in Orlando and the Florida Fire Chiefs ALS competition in Jacksonville. Finally, MDFR was honored by the International Association of Fire Chiefs with the Heart Safe Community Award for the effectiveness of its STEMI program. Click here to see a complete list of 2009Heart Safe award winners.)

The MDFR ST-elevation MI (STEMI) program is among the most comprehensive in the country. When a STEMI alert is activated by MDFR paramedics, the patient is routed to an interventional cardiac center, which not only emergently treats the patient, but provides complete feedback (including cath lab films) to MDFR staff for review. MDFR has agreements in place with these facilities and monitors their performance to ensure their STEMI patients are receiving timely treatment. If a facility does not meet predetermined benchmarks, MDFR will not transport their STEMI patients there.

The STEMI program, however, is just one of several innovations that set MDFR apart: 

Deployment strategy: Miami-Dade has a unique deployment strategy that includes three-crewmember rescues (ALS transport ambulances) and their own fleet of four helicopters. MDFR has the country's largest antivenin unit, which provides response, online direction and referral for snakebite victims.

Motorcycle program: For the past several years, MDFR had a program of placing paramedics on motorcycles. At one point, this program had 12 Harley Davidson Road Kings with teams of two working peak hours to improve response times through Dade County's gridlocked highways. Unfortunately, this program was cut effective Oct. 1, a casualty of Florida's Amendment One tax reform and the worst budget year in recent history. 

Air rescue: The MDFR Air Rescue program has a fleet of four ALS Bell helicopter 412s, which are strategically located at northern and southern locations in the county. MDFR staffs its helicopters with two pilots and two specially trained MDFR paramedics. All of these aircraft can be outfitted with a "Bambi Bucket" to pick up water for firefighting and during the brush fire season. One of the helicopters is reconfigured with a fire attack tank. In addition to ALS and transport missions, MDFR's air program performs search-and-rescue and other tactical support.

Venom response: The Venom Response Team was developed in 1998. This MDFR group has become an international resource for facilities treating snakebite victims. The antivenin unit is one of the most comprehensive in the U.S. and contains antivenin for 95% of the world's most venomous snakes, including cobras and black mambas. 

MDFR At a Glance
Fire Chief: Herminio Lorenzo 
EMS Chief: John Gardner
Medical Director: Donald Rosenburg, MD
Number of EMS chiefs/supervisors: 14 EMS captains/supervisors, 1 chief (OIC), 1 EMS division chief
Primary service area: unincorporated Miami-Dade (a diverse area of more than 2,000 square miles, including urban, suburban and rural areas)
Population served: 1.7 million
Type of vehicles: extended-cab medium-duty rescue trucks, Harley Davidson Road King motorcycles, squads, battalion trucks, tankers, engines, aircraft rescue fire trucks, brush trucks, fireboats, air-rescue helicopters and platform trucks
Number of EMS transports per year: 98,275
Number of certified personnel: 560 EMTs; 1,561 Paramedics
Number of EMS calls annually: 165,386
Average response time 2008 calendar year:
Response times to life-threatening emergencies:

• 9-1-1 to arrival of 8.05 minutes : This represents total response time, which is the time elapsed from receipt of the call by the 9-1-1 PSAP operator to arrival of the first MDFR unit. 
• MDFR response time (fire dispatcher to arrival)of 6.54 minutes:This represents the time elapsed from receipt of the incident by MDFR Communications from the 9-1-1 PSAP operator to arrival of the first MDFR unit. 
• MDFR travel time (en route to arrival) of 6.24 minutes: This represents the time elapsed from dispatch of the incident by a MDFR Communications to MDFR unit to arrival of the first MDFR unit.   

Co-responders: None
Starting salary: FF/EMT: $54,075 (after recruit training)  
Starting salary: FF/paramedic: $58,980 (after recruit training)
Protocol highlights: STEMI, geriatric trauma, bariatric transport and infection control
Current and past research activities: Retavase (thrombolytic) study, STEMI network and ePCRs.
Current challenges: preparation and planning for pandemic events, quality assurance program and STEMI network. 
Currently recruiting?: no
Recruit requirements: 

• Must be 18 years of age at time of application.
• Must have a high school diploma or GED.
• Must not have been convicted of a felony nor of any misdemeanor directly related to the position of employment sought, nor have pled "Nolo Contendere" to any charge of a felony.
• Must submit fingerprints to be processed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI.
• Must have a good moral character as determined by a thorough background investigation.
• Must be a non-user of tobacco or tobacco products for at least one year immediately preceding application, as evidenced by a sworn affidavit.
• Must be in good physical condition as determined by a medical examination given by a physician according to the provisions of NFPA Standard 1582.
• Must have, or be able to obtain, a valid Florida driver's license and have maintained a good driving record.
• Must be able to work variable shifts, including shifts that require 24 hours of consecutive duty.   

Contact for employment or other information: For information about the hiring process and recruitment period dates, call the Firefighter Applicant Hotline at 786/331-4700, or visit the MDFR Hiring Information Web page at www.miamidade.gov/mdfr/hiring.asp.  

David Travis, EMT-P, MPH, is the chief of the Rescue Division (EMS) for Hillsborough County Fire Rescue in Tampa, Fla. He's also an adjunct faculty member in the EMS program at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa. He has been involved in EMS for more than 25 years.

Click here to read an at-a-glance profile of Houston Fire Department.  

Click here to read an at-a-glance profile of Wake County EMS. 

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• David Travis

  David T. Travis, EMT-P, MPH, is the chief of the Rescue Division (EMS) for Hillsborough County Fire Rescue in Tampa, Fla. He's also an adjunct faculty member in the EMS program at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa. He has been involved in EMS for more than 25 years. If you'd like to see your system profiled for our readers, click here and tell him something special about your system.