Melbourne Fire Department

The Melbourne Fire Department is a city department that runs eight fire stations, every one licensed in advanced life support and staffed by paramedics.

The city describes the department's job as protecting life and property through emergency medical care, fire suppression and hazard mitigation, and states that all Melbourne stations carry the advanced life support license (Melbourne Fire Department). The station count comes from the department's statistics page, which says Melbourne Fire Department staffs eight fire stations placed around the city to shorten response times (Melbourne fire statistics). The city's financial report shows the same total of 8 fire stations in every year from 2016 through 2025 in its capital asset schedule (FY2025 ACFR, Schedule 19).

Staffing appears in the same Melbourne report: the fire function is listed at 189 full-time equivalent employees in fiscal 2025 and 189 in fiscal 2024, and a footnote says the Fire Department added 12 SAFER Grant-funded positions in 2024 (FY2025 ACFR, Schedule 17). For a major incident, or when Melbourne units are already committed to several calls, the city takes part in the countywide mutual aid program and in the statewide response agreement (Melbourne Fire Department).

For a non-emergency matter, the department's contact block lists 321-608-6731, Option 1, and the administration office at 321-608-6000, with 9-1-1 for emergencies (Melbourne Fire Department); the city's departments directory lists the same non-emergency number and option (City of Melbourne departments directory). The Fire Prevention Office is a section inside the department rather than a separate city office (Melbourne Fire Prevention Office).

The Melbourne Fire Department reports 18,362 incidents in 2025, an average of 50.30 requests for service each day, with rescue and emergency medical calls the largest group (Melbourne fire statistics).

The two Melbourne counts are not the same figure. The statistics page gives 18,362 incidents for 2025, while the operating indicators in the city's financial report list 18,656 emergency responses for fiscal 2025 and 18,733 for fiscal 2024 (FY2025 ACFR, Schedule 18). The report covers the fiscal year that ended September 30, 2025, while the statistics page does not name the twelve months behind its count. Hazardous conditions and fires each made up 1% of the 2025 mix on the statistics page.

The Melbourne statistics page also compares fire losses with the nation, and it states two different 2024 figures: property loss per capita of $15.10 in one sentence and $14.10 in the next, both described as below the 2024 nationwide figure of $138.15 from the National Fire Protection Association (Melbourne fire statistics). The page adds that the figure can swing sharply in any year because of one large fire.

ISO Class 1 is the top Public Protection Classification, and Melbourne has held it since November 1, 2022, as the first fire department in Brevard County to earn it (Melbourne Fire Department).

The city places the Melbourne department in the top 1% of fire departments in the nation and the top 10% in Florida, and notes that insurers use these ratings when setting fire insurance premiums (Melbourne Fire Department). The department's page links Melbourne's 2022 classification letter from the rating organization.

The Station 72 project page explains how Melbourne is scored. The rating weighs Emergency Communications at 10 points, the Fire Department at 50 points and Water Supply at 40 points, with Community Risk Reduction worth 5.5 bonus points, and the city says station locations, staffing and the age of trucks and equipment make up more than 50% of a rating (Fire Station 72 project page). On the same page the city notes that, for homeowners in Melbourne, station locations and response times can also mean lower insurance premiums.

Melbourne is replacing Fire Station 72 because the 1966 building at Jimmy Moore Park no longer meets National Fire Protection Association standards, and the city is now under contract to buy a property for the new station (Fire Station 72 project page).

The current Melbourne station stands on the northwest corner of Jimmy Moore Park, where Wickham Road meets Sarno Road. Built to house three fire personnel, it measures roughly 3,200 square feet, half of it two apparatus bays, and its district spans approximately 10.62 square miles (6,796.37 acres), with the majority of calls coming from east of Wickham Road. The project page puts the 2025 workload at 3,059 calls for service, answered on average in 4 minutes and 28 seconds (Fire Station 72 project page).

The Melbourne site search has gone back to the city's boards several times. The Planning and Zoning Board voted 6 to 1 on June 6, 2025 to approve a Public/Institutional future land use amendment covering roughly 2.67 acres of Jimmy Moore Park, but the amendment failed at City Council by the same 6 to 1 margin on July 8, 2025. Staff returned on October 14, 2025 with five candidate sites, and council directed further study of one privately owned Sarno Road parcel west of Wickham Road along with the previously proposed park location. A community meeting followed on April 20, 2026, and at the July 14, 2026 regular meeting council approved the purchase contract plus a task order for design, geotechnical work and wetland delineation ahead of bidding (Fire Station 72 project page).

Plans call for the replacement station to hold two units and as many as nine personnel: an advanced life support engine with four or five firefighters and a Heavy Rescue with four. The Heavy Rescue was outfitted and staffed ahead of the move and runs temporarily out of Station 76 while the relocation is delayed (Fire Station 72 project page). Project questions go to [email protected].

The Melbourne Fire Prevention Office, reached at 321-608-7910, handles fire inspections, safety classes, fire investigation reports and the home lockbox program (Melbourne Fire Prevention Office).

Every Melbourne fire inspection except new construction is assigned to that office, including day care, annual state-required, special activity permit and commercial inspections, and it reviews fire and evacuation plans for commercial and medical facilities. Normal business hours run 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; an inspection outside those hours needs a request form emailed to [email protected]. The office also takes calls from anyone with confidential information about a fire (Melbourne Fire Prevention Office).

For open burning in Melbourne, such as land clearing or a controlled burn, the Fire Prevention Office page points to the Florida Forest Service web-based open burn authorization request or its line, 407-888-8760, and says the Forest Service performs the on-site inspections and compliance checks (Melbourne Fire Prevention Office). Community educators give fire and life safety talks to day cares, schools and youth groups and teach portable extinguisher use and hurricane preparedness.

For homeowners, the Melbourne Fire Department runs a residential emergency access program built on a single-key lockbox mounted outside the house and opened only by the department, so crews can enter without forcing a door and then re-secure the home (Melbourne emergency lockbox program). Details come from the same 321-608-7910 number.

Melbourne put its first heavy rescue truck into service in October 2025 for building collapses, large-vehicle crashes and confined space and trench rescues (Melbourne 2025 Year in Review).

The city's 2025 report says 25 Melbourne firefighters have earned the Rescue Specialist certification and 29 are certified to the Operations Level in Structural Collapse, which lets the department keep 18 qualified firefighters on each shift. Earlier in 2025 a new fire engine went into service at Station 71 (Melbourne 2025 Year in Review). The financial report lists $2,410,935 in outstanding commitments for fire engines and trucks as of September 30, 2025 (FY2025 ACFR, construction commitments).

Training happens at the Melbourne Fire Training Center, which has a classroom and a burn tower used for search and rescue, vehicle extrication, pump operator, ladder and rope training, CPR and emergency vehicle driving (Become A Firefighter page). City pages give two street numbers for it: 1800 Hughes Road on the firefighter recruiting page and 1980 Hughes Road on the page announcing physical abilities testing, which also lists the Training Center line as (321) 608-6201 (Qualifying Applicants page). Hiring steps for firefighters are covered in the City of Melbourne jobs guide.

Last verified: October 21, 2026, by re-reading the Melbourne fire department, statistics, Station 72, fire prevention, lockbox and recruiting pages alongside the FY2025 ACFR schedules and the 2025 Year in Review.