Tallahassee Fire Department

Update on Current Contract Negations (as of Jan. 2021)
After 13 successful bargaining sessions with the IAFF bargaining team, the City and firefighters reached a three year agreement on all 39 contract articles including wages, pension benefits and health & safety measures. The City ratified the agreement but the firefighters did not ratify their own agreement forcing the parties into an impasse. There is not a contract at this time because the union membership did not ratify the agreement.

Key Provisions of the Proposed Contract

• Salaries
  Base gross starting salary for new firefighters is $846^; As of 1/14/2021, the average gross annual earnings of all positions within the non-supervisory collective bargaining agreement is $70,260 ($1,351 per week)
• Workweek
  As is typical in the fire service, firefighters' schedule and salary for the position anticipate 24 hour shifts in order to provide coverage to the community. Within that schedule, they are provided sleeping accommodations. Typical schedule is 24 hours (7:00pm - 7:00pm) on and 48 hours off for an average of 2 days per week.
• Pension
  The City and Union agreed to the proposed pension contribution reduction of an average of 3%. Pension contribution rates for firefighters hired prior to 10/1/2017 are based on an Age 52 retirement as compared to Age 65 for general unit employees and Age 55 for police officers. Firefighters employed on or after 10/1/17 as agreed to by the parties may retire at age 62.
• Health Insurance
  Per Agreements^*, the City provides the same group health coverage to members of the bargaining unit as it offers to all non-unionized employees. In FY20, the City proposed to move from an aggregate split of 70% (City)/30% (Employee) to 80% (City)/20% (Employee) through the contract period cycle resulting in an estimated savings for family coverage of $600 in the first year.

^Source: Agreement between City of Tallahassee and Tallahassee Professional Firefighters 10.2017 - 9.2020
*Source: Agreement between City of Tallahassee and Florida Police Benevolent association 10.2017 - 9.2020

View Current Benefits View Draft Contract

Deputy Chief Gene Sanders began his employment with the Tallahassee Fire Department in 1997. During the expanse of this time, he has held the positions of Firefighter, Driver/Operator, Lieutenant, Captain, Battalion Chief, and Division Chief. Chief Sanders serves as a liaison for the department on multiple communities on both a local and state level. Additionally, Chief Sanders holds the positions of:

• State Certified Emergency Medical Technician
• Fire Officer I
• Fire Safety Inspector
• Fire Investigator
• Hazardous Materials (Hazmat) Technician
• Fire Service Instructor
• Live Fire Instructor

Chief Sanders’s dedication to the fire profession is exemplified through these extensive qualifications and expertise, and his application of these skills provides an invaluable service to our community.

Training

Training is instrumental in the development and advancement of Fire Suppression & Rescue personnel, and our curriculum places an emphasis on customer service and professional fire service advancement. TFD achieves this by coordinating and delivering in-service training through practical skills activities, classroom course delivery and online curriculum. The training grounds consists of:

• 6 story multi-use training tower
• 2.5 story Class “A” burn facility
• Natural gas and propane burn station
• Regional Hazardous Material and Urban Search & Rescue training station.

Fire Suppression and Rescue

The Tallahassee Fire Department responds to nearly 400 structures fires, both commercial and residential, as well as approximately 200 vehicles fires, over 900 brush and rubbish fires, and more than 1100 vehicle rescues annually. As a result of the diversity of emergency calls, personnel must be properly equipped, trained, and at the ready to respond and mitigate any of these emergency situations. Beyond Leon County, the department also provides emergency response via mutual aid to communities in the surrounding area.

Citizens' Fire Academy

Wonder what it would be like to be a firefighter? Well now you can find out. The Department's Citizens' Fire Academy delivered twice annually, is an informative learning process that provides an opportunity for you to receive 5 weeks of classroom and field instruction regarding the various responsibilities held by firefighters. While attending, you will receive information and instruction on issues such as vehicle extrication, Liquid Propane (LP) Gas Fires, Fire Hose Deployment, Fire Attack, Fire Ventilation, Safety, Communications, Airport Fire Operations, Hazardous Materials, Vertical Rescue, Emergency Medical Procedures, and much more. All of this is enhanced by your opportunity to ride along with a company, rappel with a TRT member, and extinguish a Liquid Propane Gas Fire. The Academy is free.

EMS Programs – Community Involvement

To help promote good health habits and to prevent potentially serious illness, the Fire Department offers free blood pressure screening to you as a public service at all 16 fire stations located throughout Leon County. In addition to the free blood pressure check, you are given a card which maintains a record of your blood pressure readings. You are encouraged to take this card with you on visits to your physician for review. Learn more about lowering your blood pressure by reading this American Heart Association report.

The Difference Between BLS and ALS

Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) are trained in Basic Life Support (BLS) measures. To become an EMT, one has to attend and graduate from an accredited EMT school program. During this time, an EMT is taught how to deal with basic medical emergencies and trauma. Through classroom and practical education, the BLS provider becomes proficient in trauma care, cardiac and stroke care, CPR, advanced first aid, child birth, and basic medication administration. These skills allow a BLS provider to stabilize a patient until ALS care arrives, and/or until a patient is transported to a hospital for further medical care.

To become a Paramedic and be certified in Advanced Life Support (ALS), one must first complete an EMT/BLS level of training, followed by two years of college level courses including College Math, English, and Human Sciences. After prerequisites have been completed, one can apply for a Paramedic program. The training gained in Paramedic school expounds on EMT/BLS school. Skills learned include aggressive cardiac life support, pediatric life support, severe trauma, and many other life-threatening emergency medical conditions. Paramedics are also trained to start IVs, administer medications according to medical director, and perform advanced airway management. An ALS trained Paramedic is responsible for managing the emergency medical scene according to protocol, and for directing operations inside of the medical transport unit en route to the hospital.

American Heart Association Heart Ready Award

Recognizing that coronary artery disease is America's #1 Killer, advanced defibrillators are standard on our ALS units and over 50 have been deployed to our Basic Life Support units, staff vehicles and fire department facilities. This preparation has been recognized as the Department was awarded the American Heart Association's HEARTREADY Award .

Helping Hugs Program

When young children have suffered trauma from fire related injuries, medical emergencies, or accidents, department members will give the child a small stuffed animal for comfort. This helps to ease fear and anxiety the child may be experiencing due to the emergency situation.

Other Areas

• Special Operations

Deputy Chief Rich Joneswas born in Paramus New Jersey. He graduated from Warren County High School in Front Royal Virginia and received his bachelor’s degree in Communications in 1990 from Longwood University.

On August 1, 1992, Chief Jones was sworn in as a member of the Charlottesville Fire Department, which was just the start of his expansive career. As a firefighter, he was assigned to both the Engine and Ladder companies, and successfully achieved the rank of Senior Firefighter before long. Jones was also an associate member of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Rescue Squad and served on their Technical Rescue Team. In September of 2001, he was promoted to the rank of Captain and assigned to an Engine Company, where he thrived and excelled for over 9 years.

Jones was promoted to Operations Battalion Chief and placed in charge of the A Platoon in October of 2010. Not long after in early 2013, he was assigned as a Staff Chief in charge of the Community Risk Reduction Division. He was also given the title of Charlottesville Fire Department’s Public Information Officer in the same year and handled all public media requests and social media activity.

During his tenure in this position, Jones created a program called “Give Up the Keys,” which was an initiative that detailed the dangers of driving under the influence. This program and its success established a relationship between the Charlottesville Fire Department and the Athletic Programs Division at the University of Virginia. Chief Jones also worked with the University of Virginia Health System on several PSAs that aired safety messages to the local community. In January of 2016, Chief Jones returned to the Suppression Division as the Operations Battalion Chief assigned to C Platoon.

Chief Jones currently holds the Fire Officer 4 certification and is an Advanced Life Support Technician. He is also a Certified Fire Investigator (1033), Public Fire Educator, and Instructor II. Jones and his wife Candice have two daughters, Morgan and Jordan. He brings 32 years of fire service experience to the Tallahassee Fire Department and is dedicated to keeping our community safe as head of the Logistics Division.

Logistics

The Logistics Division supports the mission of the Tallahassee Fire Department by providing support services for fire suppression, hazardous material, and rescue operations. This support includes:

• Maintaining and supplying personnel with uniforms and protective equipment such as helmets, coats, pants, boots, and gloves
• Management, maintenance, and stocking of 21 department facilities
• Management of all department fire apparatus as well as support vehicles
• Management and maintenance of all department technology needs
• Management of the department’s Special Operations which include Hazardous Materials Task Force 2 Team, Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 7 Team and the Airport Operations for the Tallahassee International Airport.

Prevention

Each year, the personnel within Prevention interact with more than 2500 local businesses and places of assembly, including schools and churches, to implement and administer fire safety measures for the public as well as the employees who work in these establishments within our communities. Our inspectors assess and monitor each building for compliance with all life safety and current NFPA fire codes.

During an inspection, TFD will evaluate whether conditions at a business site are safe or if there are issues that are liable to cause a fire, which would result in unnecessary endangerment of lives and property. If these conditions do exist, TFD will advise the business immediately and consult with the owner/manager or designee about correcting these problems in a reasonable timeframe so the business will be safer and in compliance with fire codes.

Prevention also oversees the fulfillment of the department's home fire safety program with the free install of smoke detectors to elderly and low-income citizens. Public education and outreach regarding home fire safety is another responsibility of Prevention. This programming mainly includes fire safety presentations at public events and local civic groups as well as an annual Fire Prevention Week community event in October.

Update Your Emergency Information

Property managers and business owners can now update their emergency contact information and gate codes by using our online form. This will ensure our emergency personnel and first responders have the most accurate information and can be able to respond quickly and efficiently should the need arise.

• Fill out the Emergency Contact and Occupancy Information Update Form (PDF)
  

Prevention Tips

• Fire Extinguishers
• Smoke Alarms and the Smoke Alarm Program

Other Areas

• Investigations
• Inspections / Plans Review

The Tallahassee Fire Department is looking for hard-working, caring, professional individuals who desire to work in the rewarding and challenging profession of Fire/EMS.

Become a Firefighter

(Pictured left to right - John McCollum, Thomas Pinkney Coe and L. C. Tully Sr. - Horses are Dick and Jack)

The mission of the Tallahassee Fire Department is to provide for the safety and welfare of our community and our members through prevention, preparation and protection.

The City of Tallahassee's Fire Department has been fighting fires and responding to emergencies for more than 100 years. While Tallahassee developed as a city, firefighting was a community effort ranging from "bucket brigades" to hand and horse-drawn wagons. In 1886, the first volunteer fire company was established in the city. Volunteer fire companies came and went until in September of 1902, the Tallahassee Volunteer Fire Company was formed. In May of 1930 its named changed to Tallahassee Fire Department. With this came six paid firefighters and six volunteer firefighters who were paid only for drilling and responding to a fire. In March of 1915 the first motorized fire truck, an American LaFrance engine, was purchased for the sum of $8,000 and placed in service. In December of that year, all five fire horses (Tom, Jerry, Dick, Jack, Jake) were sold for one dollar each.

Fire prevention has been a large part of the fabric of the City of Tallahassee. In 1843, the city council enacted an ordinance that required all buildings in downtown Tallahassee to be constructed of fire resistive material. This was in response to the "Great Fire of 1843" that destroyed more than 90 structures in the downtown business district. The fire started in the Hotel Washington located on the SE corner on S. Monroe Street and St. Augustine Street. In less than 3 hours it spread north, all the way to Park Avenue where its Northward progress stopped. Unfortunately, the fire destroyed most of the buildings on the East side of Monroe Street to Calhoun Street and on the West side of Monroe Street to Adams Street. As a result, many items in the local newspapers at the time warned citizens of the dangers of defective flues and chimneys which created sparks on roofs. Because of this, it was recommended that ladders were to be readily available at all residences so neighbors could possibly put out a fire with a bucket of water.

Firefighting, fire prevention and responses to all types of emergencies have grown extensively in the last 100 years. Today TFD has 16 stations serving and protecting about 702 square miles of incorporated and unincorporated land in Tallahassee and Leon County and approximately 292,000 people. The department is comprised of 284 full-time certified firefighters, 261 of whom respond to over 27,000 incidents annually and 23 whom are on staff. In addition, 17 general support employees provide a variety of administrative support.

The face of firefighting is changing constantly. In Tallahassee's recent past, most calls were for fires, predominantly resulting from kitchen accidents, chimney sparks and arson. Now the department faces a multifaceted response requirement that is daunting, to say the least. Thirty-two percent of current emergency calls are for emergency medical services (EMS). To field approximately 15,000 EMS calls annually, TFD provides the largest non-hospital-based medical response force from Jacksonville to Pensacola. In the face of a major medical emergency in the community, TFD will be the first responder.

But, above and beyond the medical response mission of the department, TFD has trained its staff to respond to such specialized needs as arson investigation, structure collapse, high-angle rescue, extrication, search and rescue, and hazardous materials. TFD personnel review all new and existing commercial construction plans, and they also conduct fire safety inspections of these occupancies to ensure that the construction is in accordance with the approved plans. Additionally, TFD works with the county and state agencies and assumes the lead role for the city in planning ahead for and responding to man-made and natural disasters.

TFD has a long and distinguished history of responding to the public safety needs of the city and Leon County and other surrounding counties. The Department enthusiastically accepts this challenge. TFD continues to plan how to best serve and protect citizens for the next 100 years.

• Learn more about TFD through our photo presentation (PDF)