St. Louis Fire Department

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St. Louis Fire Department

Operational area
Country	United States
State	Missouri
City	St. Louis
Agency overview[2][3]
Established	September 14, 1857 (1857-09-14) (167 years ago)
Annual calls	110,000 (2022)
Employees	1141 (2022) 950 – Uniformed personnel 191 – Civilian members [1]
Annual budget	$72,704,965 mil.USD [FY 2022][1]
Staffing	Career
Commissioner	Dennis Jenkerson
Mayor of St. Louis responsible	Tishaura Jones
EMS level	ALS & BLS
IAFF	73
Motto	"Justifiably Proud"
Facilities and equipment[4]
Battalions	7
Stations	36
Engines	15
Trucks	20
Squads	2
Ambulances	12
Tenders	0
HAZMAT	3
USAR	1
Fireboats	2
Rescue boats	4
Website
Official website
IAFF website

The St. Louis Fire Department (STLFD or STL City Fire) provides emergency medical services, fire cause determination, fire prevention, fire suppression, hazardous materials mitigation, and rescue services to the city of St. Louis, Missouri. The department is also the second oldest professional and fully paid fire department in the United States.^[5][6] The STLFD is responsible for 69.0 square miles (179 km²) and has a population of approximately 294,890 with a daytime population of over 2 million.^[2]

The Fire Department Division is a division of the St. Louis Public Safety Department.

The St. Louis Fire Department is led by the Fire Commissioner, currently Dennis M. Jenkerson.^[7] The Fire Commissioner and Chief is appointed by the Director of Public Safety and each bureau is commanded by a Deputy Fire Chief, who oversees the department's bureaus. Administrative Services, Fire Prevention, Operations, Support Services, Emergency Medical Services are the major operational units in the St. Louis Fire Department.

The first organized fire department in St. Louis was created in 1822, had several volunteer fire departments in the area. An ordinance was passed to purchase the equipment, which primarily consisted of leather buckets. When the alarm sounded, members of the department would fetch their bucket and rush to the scene.^[8] On September 14, 1857, the department transitioned to an all-paid department. The St. Louis Fire Department is the third oldest fully paid fire department, behind the Cincinnati Fire Department and the Providence Fire Department.^[9]

In addition to fire suppression and emergency medical services, the St. Louis Fire Department also has specialized units that include:^[10]

• Aircraft Rescue Firefighting at St. Louis Lambert International Airport
• Hazmat Task Force
• Marine Operations with a Boston Whaler called the "Jack Buck & Stan Musial," which is permanently moored on the Mississippi River, along with five other small rapidly deployable boats.
• Dive and Swift Water Rescue
• High-Angle Rope Rescue
• Trench and Collapse Rescue

The Fire Commissioner serves as the senior sworn member of the STLFD. Prior to 1857, the position was known as the Fire Chief'^{[11][verification needed]} The Commissioner is the overall person in charge of the Fire department.

Commissioner Dennis Jenkerson is the 10th individual to hold the post as Fire Commissioner.

The SLFD'S's organization consists of seven bureaus. These include the following: Each bureau is commanded by a Deputy Chief or Deputy Fire Chief or Manager.

• Bureau of Emergency Medical Services
• Bureau of Prevention
• Bureau of Communications
• Bureau of Support Services
• Bureau of Fire Inspections
• Bureau of Fire Investigations
• Bureau of Fire Suppression

In the St. Louis Fire Department, helmet colors often denote a fire fighter's rank or position. In general, white helmets denote chief officers, while red helmets may denote company officers. The specific meaning of a helmet's color or style varies from region to region and department to department. The rank of an officer in the St. Louis Fire Department is most commonly denoted by a number of speaking trumpets, a reference to a megaphone-like device used in the early days of the fire service, although typically called "bugle" in today's parlance. Ranks proceed from one (lieutenant) to five (fire chief) bugles.

Title	Insignia	Badge color	Notes
Fire Commissioner (rank of Fire Chief)		Gold	The Fire Commissioner holds the rank of fire chief and is appointed by the Mayor of St. Louis. Highest rank in the St. Louis Fire Department.
Deputy Fire Commissioner (rank of Deputy Fire Chief)		Gold	The Deputy Fire Commissioner holds the rank of Deputy Fire Chief and is appointed by the fire commissioner. Second in command in the fire department.
Assistant Chief		Gold	The assistant chief is the commander of a bureau within the fire department.
Battalion Chief		Gold	The battalion chief is the commander of a battalion of fire stations and apparatus within his/her district.
Captain		Gold	A captain is in charge of a crew of firefighters in the fire station.
Lieutenant		Gold	A lieutenant is responsible for the administration and supervision of a fire company for fire suppression operations, hazardous material response, rescue operations, etc.
Engineer/Technician/Sergeant	No Insignia	Silver	Engineers/technicians/sergeants are responsible for firefighting vehicles, such as fire engines, that transport firefighters, carry equipment, and pump water at fire scenes.
Firefighter	No Insignia	Silver	A firefighter is a rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and animals from dangerous situations.
Candidate firefighter	No Insignia	None	The primary responsibility of a probationary or rookie firefighter is to learn how to be a firefighter. They are both mentored and closely inspected by other senior firefighters and the officers.

• Note: In place of bugles, ladder companies are signified by axes, rescue companies by life guns, squad companies by crossed ladders and stacked tip nozzles, and marine companies by bugles with an anchor.

The firefighters, paramedics, and EMTs of STLFD are featured in A&E Network's reality series Live Rescue.^[12]

From May 17, 1849, to Jan 13th, 2022, the Supporting Heroes Page reported that 171 Firefighters in the St. Louis Fire Department died in the line of duty.^[13]

some fireboats of the STLFD

image	name	commissioned	retired	dimensions	pumping capacity	notes
	Jack Buck	2003		27 feet	4000 gpm
	Stan Musial (fireboat)	2013		44-foot	7000 gpm

As of 2013, there are four small fireboats operated in St. Louis.^[14] The largest two are named.^[15][16] The 27 feet (8.2 m) Jack Buck was commissioned in 2003 and the 44 feet (13 m) Stan Musial in 2013.

On May 17, 1849, at 9:00 p.m., an enormous fire broke out in the heart of St. Louis.^[17] A steamboat named "The White Cloud" sitting on Cherry Street was on fire. The Fire Department, which, at that time, consisted of 9 hand engines and hose reels, responded to the scene. The moorings holding the boat broke, and the steamer floated downstream, setting 22 other steamers on fire as it went.^[17]

The flames leaped from building to building, sweeping everything on the levee for four blocks.^[17] The firemen were exhausted after fighting for over eight hours. The entire business portion of the city appeared lost. In a last-ditch effort to save the city, six buildings were spread with explosive powder and blown up. When the fire was finally contained after 11 hours, 430 buildings were destroyed, 23 steamboats along with over a dozen other boats were lost, and three people had died, including a fire captain.^[17]

Below is a complete listing of all Fire Station and Apparatus Locations in the city of St. Louis by Battalion District, as of October 2019. In addition to the primary services (Fire Suppression, Emergency Medical Services, Fire Prevention, Fire Cause Determination, Hazardous Materials Mitigation, and Rescue Services) The St. Louis Fire Department also provides structural fire protection, emergency medical services, rescue response, and aircraft rescue firefighting at St. Louis Lambert International Airport from the two fire stations located there.^[18][19]

38°38′39.1596″N 90°12′46.5876″W / 38.644211000°N 90.212941000°W / 38.644211000; -90.212941000