What We Do

What We Do

Roanoke Fire-EMS is a full-service fire and emergency medical service agency providing basic and advanced pre-hospital life support, fire prevention and education programs, fire suppression services, arson detection, vehicle extrication, and tactical heavy rescue. It also supports a regional hazardous materials team. In addition to housing firefighting and EMS personnel and apparatus, fire-EMS stations are neighborhood resources. Fire-EMS personnel at these sites help distribute important city documents, teach children about fire safety, and provide a safe place for lost children and adults. Six of our stations are official polling places for all city elections.

Our department operates 10 fire engines, 3 aerial ladder trucks, eight ambulances, one part time ambulance unit, and three command vehicles seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Firefighter/EMTs operate out of 11 stations with 13 pieces of front-line fire apparatus, 8 front-line EMS units, 1 part time EMS unit, 1 Heavy Technical Rescue Truck, and 1 HazMat unit. We serve a resident population of 94,911 in an area of 43 square miles, and answer over 23,000 fire and EMS runs annually.

Roanoke Fire-EMS holds a Class 2 rating from the Insurance Service Organization, the highest rating given to a Virginia fire department, and one of only five such ratings awarded in the state. This rating helps our community by bringing lower insurance rates to homeowners and businesses. Roanoke Fire-EMS is also an Internationally Accredited Agency.

We invite you to stop by any of our stations any time to learn more about what we do!