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 second oldest fire department, second only to Cincinnati.[9]

The St. Louis Fire Department is headed by a Commissioner of Fire . Currently, the Fire Commissioner and Chief is Dennis Jenkerson who replaced former Fire Commissioner Sherman George in 2007.

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

Typical rank insignia In the St. Louis Fire Department.

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, but 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 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.

• Note: In place of Bugle(s) Captains and Lieutenants assigned to: Ladder Companies are signified by axe(s), Rescue Companies by Life gun(s), Squad Companies by crossed Ladder(s) and Stacked Tip Nozzle(s) and Marine Companies by Bugle(s) with Anchor.

The Firefighters, Paramedics and EMTs of STLFD are featured in A&E Network's reality series Live Rescue.[11]

From May 17, 1849, to Jul 12th, 2017, the Supporting Heroes Page reported that 169 Firefighters in the St. Louis Fire Department died in the line of duty,[12]

Jack Buck patrols the Mississippi during Fair Saint Louis

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

As of October 2019, below is a complete listing of all Fire Station and Apparatus Locations in the city of St. Louis according to Battalion District & 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 two fire stations located at the airport. [17][18]