Do fire departments have special units?

Question

Wondering if fire departments have any special units like police have SWAT units...

Answer 1

Two specific units come to mind. Many larger departments have Haz Mat and Rescue companies that would be a special unit. Some of them are highly specialized. The department that I am most familiar with operates 38 fully manned stations. There are two fully manned rescue companies and 3 hazmat units. The Haz Mat units are unmanned except for calls. The firefighters perform regular firefighting duties on their regular truck and then use the hazmat trucks on an as needed basis. This is much like the Swat unit in the same city, officers are on regular duty and meet the Swat truck at a scene and suit up from there.
The Haz Mat units are called out for anything involving hazardous materials. This would include calls like gas main breaks, chemical spills, overturned tractor trailers and railcars, explosives, radioactive materials and the list seems to grow everyday. Some of the fire publication have called these units the fire dept Swat team.
The other unit is the the Rescue unit. These generally run more calls and you're likely to see these type of units in big city and even smaller volunteer department although the capability will vary from department to department. The fully manned rescue units in this area are able to support other fire crews with lighting, air bottle refilling, and other support at a fire scene, they are also the lead company on high angle rescues (visualize window washers trapped on the side of a building), extracation at car and truck accidents, and building collapses. These units may also carry dive gear for underwater search and rescue. In this role they may or may not be supported by a dive rescue team.
Other specialized units a large department might have would be a trench and or collapse unit. These are staffed much like the haz mat units and do not have the call volume of the rescues or hazmat. Most of the time a standard rescue company is able to handle the call. Sometimes these units are called USAR units which stands for Urban Search And Rescue. These have become popular since the building collapses of 9/11

Answer 2

Arson investigators.

Some major cities have par-medics that are SWAT trained and train with the police SWAT team to assist in the event of critical extraction of an injured citizen or officer in a hostage or firefight situation.

But, they do not have any specialties other than that. There primary job is fighting fires and ruining ambulance services.

Answer 3

that is in basic terms a various sort of service transport. we surely do have hearth based EMS in BC. Kitimat hearth/Rescue operates the Ambulance in Kitimat on settlement from BCAS. There was once hearth based EMS in Alberta, in spite of the undeniable fact that they are actually shifting to a provincial sort like we've in BC. Ontario has a municipal sort the place each city/area is in charge for transport ambulance service. In Saskatchewan, there are inner maximum organizations that carry contracts to furnish EMS reaction. in basic terms diverse approaches of doing issues. In BC, we are able to get hearth attend our precedence C, D and E calls in cities and cities the place the hearth branch workers are knowledgeable as "First Responders." no longer all cities have this in spite of the undeniable fact that. the place I paintings, the hearth branch will in basic terms attend if we request them to anticipate extra palms lifting.

Answer 4

yes, they have their arson investigation unit.. they have medics... in many places, you have to be a fire fighter and a paramedic...
arson investigators are peace officers and carry guns.. they have powers of police officers..

Answer 5

YES ARSON INVESTIGATORS, PARAMEDICS, FIREMEN,