Emergency Medical Services

 

Palm Harbor Fire Rescue contracts with Pinellas County to provide Advanced Life Support (ALS) First Responder service to the residents of the Palm Harbor Fire District. The first contract was signed in 1986, and again in 1996 and 2006.  The EMS system is set up so that the ALS First Responder, usually fire departments, arrive on the scene first, stabilize the patient or start EMS procedures, and then the private enterprise ambulance will transport the patient. There is a Paramedic on the ambulance, so it is one Paramedic turning the patient over to another Paramedic. Then the First Responder unit goes back in service. There are very few systems in the United States that can compare to Pinellas County's system.

Palm Harbor Fire Rescue has a Division Chief assigned to EMS/Safety who works a 40 hour work week and oversees the management of the EMS program. 

Palm Harbor Fire Rescue operates three ALS engines, one ALS Truck Company, and one ALS Squad Company. There is at least one Paramedic on each unit. Of the District's total call volume, EMS calls make up 80% of the total. The system practices closest unit dispatch, so it is not unusual to see a unit from Palm Harbor in other jurisdictions if it is the closest ALS unit.