The Reedy Creek Fire Department is the full-service fire and emergency medical services organization that provides protection for the Reedy Creek Improvement District. Walt Disney World is the largest taxpayer and primary landowner.
Currently consisting of four fire stations and approximately 160 full-time firefighters, officers, and paramedics, the department responds to over 29,000 alarms each year. The department operates four engine companies, two truck companies, and eight advance life support ambulances.
The fire department began operations in 1968 and occupied the first structure on Walt Disney World property (a mobile home) and provided protection from the earliest days of the development of the first theme park (Magic Kingdom) until today. Initially the department consisted of seven firefighters operating a four wheel drive tanker (tender).
The department is led by a fire chief and utilizes the same paramilitary rank structure of most departments in the southeastern U.S.
9-1-1 services are operated by the Fire Department as the Public Safety Answering Point. Disney, in fact, operated the first ever 9-1-1 system in Florida beginning in the late 1960s. The responsibility for answering 9-1-1 calls was transferred to RCFD from Disney Security in the 1970s. The RCFD 9-1-1 system is unusual in that most 9-1-1 Public Safety Answering Points are in the hands of law enforcement agencies that transfer fire and EMS calls to the proper second or third service. RCFD transfers police calls to Orange County Sheriff's Office and Osceola County Sheriff's Department depending upon jurisdiction.
RCFD has experienced several name changes. Reedy Creek Fire Department became Reedy Creek Fire Services and then Reedy Creek Emergency Services. The more traditional fire department name has returned to use in recent history.
Services offered by RCFD include advanced life support emergency medical service, fire suppression, fire prevention and code enforcement, training, public education, and the support of fire control systems.
The RCFD is covered by a bargaining agent, and the Reedy Creek Improvement District has a labor agreement with International Association of Fire Fighters Local 2117. The department is thoroughly unionized including many of its officers.
The RCFD has within its employees the largest percentage of Florida Certified Fire Inspectors of any community its size. This may be one reason that in its forty year history the community has never had the loss of single human life due to structure fire. This is a remarkable accomplishment for a community with an estimated average population of 250,000.