District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department

The District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department (also known as DC FEMS, FEMS, DCFD, DC Fire, or DC Fire & EMS), established July 1, 1804, provides fire protection and emergency medical service for the District of Columbia, in the United States. An organ of the devolved district government, Fire & EMS is responsible for providing fire suppression, ambulance service and hazardous materials containment for the federal district.

History


On January 13, 1803, District of Columbia passed its first law about fire control, requiring the owner of each building in the district to provide at least one leather firefighting bucket per story or pay a $1 fine per missing bucket.

The first firefighting organizations in the district were private volunteer companies. To end the problems created by rivalries between these companies, District of Columbia approved in 1864 an act to consolidate them and organize a paid fire department. Seven years passed before it was implemented on September 23, 1871, creating the all-professional District of Columbia Fire Department (DCFD) with a combination of paid and volunteer staff. The department had seven paid firefighters and 13 call men to answer alarms, manning three engines and two ladders.

By 1900, the DCFD had grown to 14 engine companies, four ladder companies, and two chemical companies.

In 1968, the entire DCFD was mobilized during the riots that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The four days of disorder saw widespread civil unrest, looting and arson, which ultimately required help with 70 outside companies to battle over 500 fires and perform 120 rescues.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the department was rife with racial tension, as the nearly all-white department became much more racially integrated and African Americans sought upper-level supervisory and management positions.

2010s Budget and Maintenance Problems
In January 2010, The Washington Examiner reported that, in a major management failure, the agency failed to budget for seniority pay in its fiscal 2010 budget, causing a $2 million shortfall. After a hiring freeze left 130 positions unfilled, the department was projected to spend $15.4 million in fiscal 2010 (2.5 times the budgeted amount). More than 75 percent of the agency's budget goes to salaries and fringe benefits.

Problems with vehicle maintenance also worsened after 2010. The department lost track of the location of reserve vehicles, and sometimes listed fire engines as available for duty when they had been stripped for parts and sent to the junkyard. In 2012, the agency hired a consultant at a cost of $182,000 to create an accurate database of vehicle status and location. Both the D.C. Council and the District of Columbia's inspector general have strongly criticized the department's record. The District of Columbia Firefighters Association, Local 36, and the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) have argued that the problem lies with poor management, while DCFEMS has said the problems either cannot be accounted for or are the result of rank-and-file incompetence or neglect.

In July 2013, more than 60 DCFEMS ambulances were out of commission due to maintenance issues, and the department was forced to hire a private ambulance service to provide staffing at a Major League Baseball game. On August 8, 2013, a DCFEMS ambulance ran out of fuel while part of President Barack Obama's motorcade, and ended up stranded on the South Lawn of the White House (EMS personnel said they reported a broken fuel gauge months ago, while DCFEMS said workers failed to fill the vehicle with gasoline.) On August 13, 2013, two DCFEMS ambulances caught fire—one while delivering a patient to MedStar Washington Hospital Center, the other while responding to an emergency call at an apartment building on Benning Road SE (another ambulance was dispatched to take the patient to the hospital.)

Mayor Muriel Bowser and Chief Gregory Dean
Muriel E. Bowser was sworn in as the seventh Mayor of the District of Columbia on January 2, 2015. On March 2, 2015, Mayor Bowser named Gregory Dean as Chief of the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department. Dean previously served for 10 years as the Fire EMS Chief for Seattle, Washington.

Chief Dean's primary focus would be stabilizing emergency medical services, boosting the department’s understaffed ranks, addressing the increasing call volume, improving training for patient care, improving vehicle fleet reliability and improving operational safety.

In June 2015, Dr. Jullette M. Saussy was selected to serve as the Medical Director of DC Fire and EMS. On January 29, 2016, just months after her appointment, she announced her resignation from that position in a letter to Mayor Muriel Bowser. In her letter, she called the department's culture "highly toxic to the delivery of any semblance of quality pre-hospital medical care."

Dr. Robert P. Holman was appointed as the Interim Medical Director effective on February 16, 2016. Dr. Holman would ultimately be retained as the permanent Medical Director and is currently the Department’s longest-serving Medical Director.

Chief Dean communicated his vision, the Department's progress and it's challenges to the community in a letter published in the Washington Post on February 19, 2016 - A changing D.C. Fire and EMS Department will make the city safer.

Starting in March 2016, the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department (FEMS) began using American Medical Response (AMR), now renamed Global Medical Response (GMR), to supplement patient transport services. AMR-GMR provides BLS patient transport services upon request from FEMS first responders.

Dr. Holman immediately went to work on improving EMS training, improving and expanding the EMS Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Office, and led the transition to criteria-based dispatching.

Dr. Holman would go on to establish the nation's largest 911 Nurse Triage Line (NTL), institute quarterly paramedic training symposiums, re-organize and reestablish the Department's Public Health / Street Calls Mobile Integrated Health Team, and improve the Department's Controlled Medication Program.

Dr. Holman was also responsible for the co-development of DC's Sobering and Stabilization Center which opened for operation in October 2023.

Most recently, in April 2024, the Department implemented a program to provide whole blood transfusions in the field. This program was implemented with support of the American Red Cross and the George Washington University Hospital’s blood bank. DC Fire and EMS is using “universal: low-titer type-O whole blood when it transfuses eligible patients suffering from hemorrhagic shock. Transfusion of patients by DC Fire and EMS increases the chance of surviving a devastating blood loss injury - more than doubling the odds of surviving and making it home from the hospital.

Stations and Apparatus
These are the DCFD's stations and equipment. {| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;" !Firehouse Number !Neighborhood !Engine Company !Truck Company !Rescue Squad Company !Ambulance or Medic Unit !Specialized Unit !Command Unit !Battalion ! ! 1 Medic 1 Ambulance 66 ! 2 Rescue Squad 1 Support Unit EMS 6 ! 3 Medic 3|| || ||6|| ! 4 Community Service Unit 4
 * West End ||Engine 1 || Truck 2|| ||Ambulance 1
 * Twin Agent Unit 2 || ||6||
 * Chinatown||Engine 2|| ||Rescue Squad 1 ||Medic 2||Mobile Command Unit
 * Battalion Chief 6
 * 6||
 * Columbia||Engine 3|| || || Ambulance 3
 * Pleasant Plains||Engine 4|| || ||Ambulance 4|| Air Unit 1

Mass Decon Safety Battalion Fire Chief
 * EMS 7

Special Operations Battalion Chief ! 5 Rehab Unit ! 6 Ambulance 61 ! 7 ! 8 Medic 8 Community Service Unit 2
 * 4||
 * Georgetown ||Engine 5|| || || Medic 5|| Canteen Unit 1
 * ||5||
 * Shaw ||Engine 6||Truck 4|| ||Ambulance 6
 * || ||1||
 * Navy Yard ||Engine 7|| || || Medic 7|| || ||2||
 * Lincoln Park||Engine 8 || || ||Ambulance 8
 * Air Unit 2

Mass Decon EMS 2 !9 !10 ! 11 EMS 4 !12 Gator 1
 * Battalion Chief 2
 * 2||
 * U Street||Engine 9 ||Truck 9|| ||Ambulance 9|| || ||4||
 * Trinidad||Engine 10 ||Truck 13|| ||Medic 10|| || ||1||
 * Columbia Heights||Engine 11 ||Truck 6|| ||Ambulance 11|| ||Battalion Chief 4
 * 4||
 * Edgewood || Engine 12 || || ||Ambulance 12||Customer Service Unit 1

Hazmat Unit 1

Hazmat Unit 2

Haz Mat Support Unit EMS 1 !13 Foam Unit 2
 * Battalion Chief 1
 * 1||
 * L'Enfant Plaza||Engine 13 ||Truck 10|| ||Ambulance 13|| Foam Unit 1

Foam Trailer

Twin Agent Unit 1 !14 Medic 14|| || ||1|| !15 Collapse Support Unit
 * ||6||
 * Fort Totten ||Engine 14 || || ||Ambulance 14
 * Anacostia||Engine 15 || ||Rescue Squad 3|| Ambulance 15
 * Collapse Unit

Community Service Unit 3

Rescue Squad 3 Support Unit EMS 3 !16 Deputy Fire Chief - Operations
 * Battalion Chief 3
 * 3||
 * Franklin Park||Engine 16 ||Tower 3|| ||Ambulance 16||Communications Support Unit
 * Assistant Fire Chief – Operations Bureau

Deputy Fire Chief of Special Operations

Deputy Fire Chief - EMS

Battalion Fire Chief - EMS

Battalion Fire Chief - Homeland Security ! 17 !18 ! 19 Ambulance 19B
 * 6||
 * Brookland||Engine 17 || || ||Medic 17|| || ||1||
 * Capitol Hill ||Engine 18 ||Truck 7|| ||Ambulance 18|| || ||2||
 * Randle Highlands ||Engine 19 || || ||Ambulance 19

Medic 19 !20 EMS 5 !21 !22 Ambulance 64 ! 23 !24 Mass Casualty Support Unit 2
 * || ||3||
 * Tenleytown ||Engine 20 ||Truck 12|| ||Ambulance 20|| ||Battalion Chief 5
 * 5||
 * Adams Morgan ||Engine 21 || || ||Medic 21||Brush Unit|| ||5||
 * Brightwood ||Engine 22||Truck 11|| ||Ambulance 22
 * || ||4||
 * Foggy Bottom || Engine 23 || || ||Ambulance 23|| || ||6||
 * Petworth ||Engine 24 || ||Rescue Squad 2||Medic 24||Mass Casualty Support Unit 1

Medical Ambulance Bus 1

Medical Ambulance Bus 2

Rescue Squad 2 Support Unit

Tunnel Rescue Unit (Long Duration Breathing Apparatus)

Heavy Wrecker !25 Ambulance 63 !26 !27 Medic 27 Ambulance 62 !28 !29 !30 Ambulance 30B Medic 30|| || ||2|| !31 Ambulance 65 !32 !33 Medic 33||Mass Casualty Support Unit 3 Medical Ambulance Bus 3 !Marine Fire and Rescue Station Fire Boat 2
 * Fire Investigation Unit||4||
 * Congress Heights ||Engine 25 || || ||Medic 25
 * Mass Decon Unit 3|| ||3||
 * Brentwood ||Engine 26 ||Truck 15|| ||Ambulance 26|| || ||1||
 * Deanwood ||Engine 27 || || ||Ambulance 27
 * || ||2||
 * Cleveland Park ||Engine 28 ||Truck 14|| ||Ambulance 28|| || ||5||
 * Palisades ||Engine 29 ||Truck 5|| ||Ambulance 29|| Gator 2|| ||5||
 * Capitol View ||Engine 30 ||Truck 17|| ||Ambulance 30
 * Chevy Chase ||Engine 31 || || ||Medic 31
 * || ||5||
 * Garfield Heights ||Engine 32 ||Truck 16|| ||Ambulance 32|| || ||3||
 * Highlands ||Engine 33 ||Truck 8|| ||Ambulance 33
 * ||3||
 * Southwest Waterfront |||| || || ||Fire Boat 1

Fire Boat 3

Fire Boat 4 !Training Academy
 * Water Rescue Support Unit||Special Operations Battalion||
 * The School

Engine 37
Truck 35
 * Truck 34
 * Ambulance 34
 * Battalion Chief 8 (Emergency Mobilization)
 * 8
 * }
 * 8
 * }
 * }
 * }