The Residential Fire Safety Institute (RFSI) has presented Edgewater Fire-Rescue with a Life Safety Achievement Award for the year 2006. For fourteen years, the Life Safety Achievement Award has recognized the local fire prevention activities that contributed to reducing the number of lives lost in residential fires. Edgewater Fire-Rescue qualified for this award in 2006 because it recorded zero fire deaths in structures during that year. Although residential fires in the United States account for only 20% of all fires, they result in 80% of all fire deaths. A total of 675 fire departments received the 2006 Life Safety Achievement Award. “Experience tells us that fire prevention activity and public education can significantly reduce life and property loss from residential fires” said Roy Marshall, Director of the RFSI. “Prevention and education are very cost effective compared to the traditional approach of relying on fire suppression. The Life Safety Achievement Award recognizes fire departments for their fire prevention efforts and encourages them to continually improve those efforts”.

The RFSI is a public interest group whose mission is to reduce residential fire deaths and injuries. The RFSI advocates the use of residential fire sprinklers, smoke alarms, carbon monoxide detectors and teaching people fire-safe behavior. The RFSI assists fire departments with implementing residential fire sprinkler/smoke alarm programs on a local basis.

Captain Steve Cousins of Edgewater Fire-Rescue adds “We are fortunate to have a community that generally follows good fire prevention practices and realizes what a valuable resource our department can be in providing guidance for such things as smoke alarm installation and home escape plans”.

  What Your City Fire Department can do for You



There are many misconceptions by the public about what firefighters do while waiting for the call to rescue a cat from a tree or to respond to a house fire. The stereotypical old days of playing checkers at the firehouse are long since gone due to the expanding needs of local communities across the nation. Over the past twenty years the fire department has increased its role and responsibilities to meet these needs, which include providing basic and advanced emergency medical treatment among other things.
The same can be said for your local fire department Edgewater Fire Rescue. The fire department has been providing fire service to this community for over 58 years. During those years the department has made several advancements to better serve the citizens of Edgewater and surrounding areas. In the early 1980’s the department began providing Basic Life Support (basic medical care) and then increased its level of medical service to Advanced Life Support (advanced medical treatment) on Christmas Day 1995 as a Christmas gift to the citizens of Edgewater.
By providing Advanced Life Support the fire department can insure that a high level of medical care is being provided in a fast, efficient and effective manner. This is also the reason why when a resident calls 911 a fire engine and an ambulance respond. The fire department has undergone the same training and can provide the same level of medical care that the local transport agency can. The only difference is that the ambulance transports the patient to the hospital. Since the local transport agency is responsible for transporting patients for all of Volusia County response times can be extended. On the average a fire engine with Advanced Life Support capabilities from the City of Edgewater arrives on scene approximately five minutes before the ambulance. This type of response helps reduce the delay for a resident needing life saving care.
Five minutes does not seem like a long time but when it relates to a patient receiving care it can mean an increase or a decrease for the chance of a patient’s survival. According to the American Heart Association if a patient that is in cardiac arrest that requires defibrillation receives it within the first 3 to 5 minutes the survival rate increases anywhere from 48% to 74%. Survival rates decrease 7% to 10% every minute of delay until defibrillation. Edgewater Fire Rescue meets this goal with an average response time of 4 minutes and 30 seconds. That response time also includes emergency responses to contracted county areas outside of the City of Edgewater such as Interstate 95 and the City of Oak Hill. In regards to other medical emergencies such as heart attacks and strokes time is also a very important factor. In these instances the fire department has the ability to provide medical treatment to help stabilize the patient while waiting for transport, which could ultimately lead to a better outcome for the patient.
This past year Edgewater Fire Rescue responded to over 3,000 emergency 911 calls of which over two-thirds or roughly over 2,000 were residents in need of some type of medical treatment. The needs of the City of Edgewater have grown and so has the fire department to accommodate them. Edgewater Fire Rescue prides itself on the level of service it provides to the community and is dedicated to maintaining the high standards that are expected by the citizens of Edgewater.