Emergency Medical Services

In September 1975, OFD sent four EMT/FFs to Valencia Community College's Paramedic Course. State EMT certification was not mandatory until 1980 and was minimum requirement for OFD in 1982. The EMS Division of the Orlando Fire Department is responsible for the overall compliance with all Federal, State, and local laws and rules dealing with EMS. The EMS Division is also responsible for the support role of ESF 8 Public Health in the event of an activation of the Orlando Operations Center (OOC) of the Emergency Management Center.

The Orlando Fire Department EMS office is also a lead role in the current Metropolitan Medical Response System or MMRS, as well as a support role for any major incident both Fire and Medical inside the City of Orlando.

Bike Team

The Fire Department Bicycle team is a unique concept of deploying a two-member team of personnel to provide medical coverage to a large crowd or limited access event. This 40+-member team covers parades, downtown parties, road races, foot races and any other possibility when there is a large crowd and limited access.

Each team consists of at least one Paramedic and one EMT, who ride specialized mountain bikes with EMS 1st response equipment. Each team is a quick response ALS team which carries an Automatic External Defibrillator as well as a pocket EKG interpreter. Each team is a rapid response stabilization team designed to assess the patients need and determine the need for addition treatment and level of care.