he Winter Park Fire Department is a multi-faceted emergency response agency that provides for the emergency and safety needs of our citizens. Our service is customer based and we are continually evaluating and redefining our services as the needs of our City change.

Winter Park established its first organized fire protection in the year 1900. The City's fire limits were set from Lyman Avenue north to Canton Avenue and from New York Avenue east to Interlachen Avenue. Six fire extinguishers were strategically placed throughout the district to be used to extinguish fires.

Several major fires occurred in the early 1900s with the Seminole Hotel fire being largest in Winter Park's history. This grand hotel burned to the ground in September of 1902. The owner's had only $30,000 in insurance and the hotel was not rebuilt on its original site.

On Dec. 1, 1909, Rollins College lost its only classroom building and all of its scientific equipment in a fire. Knowles Hall burned to the ground during the middle of the night.

Winter Park's fire protection was enhanced over the following years. In 1915, Fire Chief E.R. Favor purchased a one-horse wagon that carried 500 feet of hose and an extension ladder. By 1916, a motorized vehicle was used to tow the trailer to fire calls.

From 1913 through the early 1950s, Winter Park was protected by an all-volunteer fire department. It wasn't until the mid-1950s, that the City hired paid firefighters. In 1945, the Winter Park Fire Department answered a total of 128 calls. This is a far cry from the four thousand, three hundred ten calls answered in 1997.

An Easter morning fire on April 6, 1969 placed Winter Park on the map. The Winter Park Mall fire was the first major fire incident in the United States involving an enclosed shopping mall. The initial response of a pumper and a rescue truck with four firefighters was small by today's standards. However, they sounded a general alarm and firefighters from five departments brought the blaze under control in about four hours.

Another incident again brought notoriety to the City of Winter Park in May 1981. A large sinkhole opened up near the intersection of Fairbanks and Denning Avenue. After devouring a home, several cars and parts of several businesses and a municipal swimming pool the sinkhole stabilized.

With the passage of the EMS Act of 1973, the department took on the additional responsibility of providing emergency medical services to our community. Firefighters were trained and certified as emergency medical technicians and paramedics and the department provided first responder, non-transport emergency medical service. The department continued to upgrade and maintain state-of-the-art emergency medical service over the years, however, with the two-tiered system, the fire department would respond, treat and stabilize the patient and then load the patient into a private ambulance. The fire department's three minute average response provided for more timely treatment than the ten-minute response standard that was required of the ambulance service.

On Jan. 1, 1997, the Winter Park Fire Department implemented EMS transport service in the community. The department had been providing advanced life support EMS since the early seventies and the addition of transport service allowed the department to complete the job.

In 1998, as an outgrowth of the hazardous materials service, a household waste collection facility was opened in Winter Park. The facility was designed and built by the Public Works Department and is operated by the Fire Department. This facility provides for the quarterly collection of household chemicals and their timely and appropriate disposal. This service replaces the annual "amnesty day" where household waste was collected at a cost of approximately $75,000. The annual operation of this facility now costs City taxpayers less than half that amount.

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