Duval County Fire Department has been serving the County for over century. Today, the Duval County Fire Department covers over 800 square miles of territory and employs over 1,000 professional firefighters spread among more than fifty stations. Their department's contributions within the exploration of dynamic and progressive first responder techniques has entrenched the department among the leaders of fire/rescue services throughout the nation. Duval County Fire Department mission is to minimize the loss of life and property resulting from fire, medical emergencies, and other disasters through prevention, education, fire suppression, emergency medical service and emergency preparedness. Duval County Fire Department serves a place among the elite providers and as the acclaimed originators of today's accepted and commonplace rescue service, as well as the acknowledged creators of the concept and practice of Hazardous Materials Teams.

The Emergency Preparedness Division confronts potential and immediate disasters and city-wide emergencies. They serve residents through mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery to all disasters. Disasters include the following: hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding and terrorism. The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) is based in the Emergency Preparedness Division. Serving Florida counties with over 5,000 neighborhood trained personnel, CERT trains people to be prepared for emergency situations in their community and neighborhood. The operations division has been the largest segment within the organizational structure of the department. It is here where the decisions are made for manpower allocation and the general management of best combat resource. The firefighters who are on the front line 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. With their continuing public education efforts the Duval County Fire Department deaths related to careless smoking fell from six in 1999/2000 to only two in 2000/2001.