Kissimmee Fire Department
In the Finest tradition …Courage, Compassion and Community.
The Kissimmee Fire Department responds to more than 9,000 alarms a year, the majority being requests for emergency medical services. The Kissimmee Fire Department currently has an Insurance Services Organization (ISO) rating (property protection class) of "2," which ranks the department in the top five percent of all fire services surveyed in the State of Florida.
 The Kissimmee Fire Department provides Advance Life Support Ambulance Transport Service within the incorporated City Limits. The department operates four (4) Advanced Life Support (ALS) Transport Units operating 24 hours a day, along with two (2) reserve units. This allows each ambulance unit to maintain an average response time of less than four minutes within the coverage area. All personnel are cross trained as Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) or Paramedics as well as in Fire Suppression. Up-to-date equipment and supplies are used to provide the best pre-hospital care available.
Kissimmee has 90 firefighters, divided into three shifts and they work an average of 56 hours per week, (24-hours on duty, 48-hours off duty, shift schedules). Typical duty time consists of training, vehicle and station maintenance, studying, performing in-service company inspections, and responding to emergency calls. All are State certified firefighters, with dual certification as State of Florida/HRS Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) or Paramedics.
The Kissimmee Fire Department is also responsible for all commercial fire inspections, code enforcement, code development, commercial plans review, permitting, fees and fines, liaison with other agencies, fire investigations, and water supply research and development.
Robert L. King, born and raised in Rochester, NY, followed his father Earle into the Rochester Fire Department in May of 1976. During his 26-year career he rose through the ranks to the position of Executive Deputy Chief, second only to the chief of the department. Chief King and his wife Shirley have two children, a daughter, Carley and a son, Christopher. He holds an Associates degree in Liberal Arts from Monroe Community College, attended Empire State College and is enrolled in the Executive Fire Officer Program at the National Fire Academy.
 Chief King has an extensive background in all phases of the fire service, including fire suppression, fire investigation, training, hazardous materials, and specialized rescue operations. He developed and managed the Rochester Fire Department's annual $36 million operating budget and three million dollar capital improvement budget. He headed the city’s team in a collaborative $26 million Public Safety Training Facility project. This joint project, which went from concept to construction and involved a negotiated agreement between the City of Rochester, Monroe County and Monroe Community College, resulted in long range cost savings for the City and provides a state-of-the-art training facility for fire, police and EMS personnel.
He’s a strong believer in training and safety. He developed and implemented a department-wide Hazardous Materials Training program, and reorganized and expanded the Recruit Training program by incorporating new classroom materials, lesson plans and test and performance evaluations. As an instructor at Monroe Community College and as an adjunct at the National Fire Academy in Emmittsburg, MD, he served as an instructor in command post operations, incident command, disaster management, and terrorism - basic concepts and the management of terrorism incidents.
|