Cocoa Beach Fire Department

The Cocoa Beach Fire Department is the city's own fire and emergency medical service, covering emergency response, a Community Paramedic Program, fire prevention and inspection, public education, and emergency management (Cocoa Beach Fire page).

Emergency response covers fires, medical emergencies, vehicle accidents, hazardous materials incidents and water rescues across the city (Cocoa Beach Fire page). The Community Paramedic Program provides in-home wellness checks, non-emergency medical support and help for local seniors through outreach and care coordination (Cocoa Beach Fire page). Fire prevention staff conduct fire and life safety inspections, issue permits and check that local businesses meet safety standards, while the public administration side delivers fire safety programs, CPR training and community outreach events (Cocoa Beach Fire page). The emergency management role is planning, training and coordinating with city departments and regional partners for large-scale emergencies and natural disasters (Cocoa Beach Fire page).

The department reports an ISO Class 2 rating, and its fleet includes a ladder truck, engines, utility vehicles and rescue watercraft, all staffed around the clock (Cocoa Beach Fire Operations page). In 2024, the Operations Division responded to nearly 4,000 calls, including medical emergencies, residential, commercial and wildland fire incidents, water rescues, technical rescues, vehicle accidents and public assist service calls (Cocoa Beach Fire Operations page).

Dispatch is shared with the police: the Cocoa Beach Police Department provides 24/7 dispatch and communications for police, fire and emergency medical calls in the city (Cocoa Beach Police page).

Cocoa Beach has two fire stations, Station 51 on South Orlando Avenue and Station 50 on West Volusia Lane, and 911 is the number for any emergency (Cocoa Beach Fire page).

The administration contact shares the 321-868-3330 line with Main Fire Station 51 on South Orlando Avenue, while Station 50 on West Volusia Lane has its own main and alternate numbers (Cocoa Beach Fire page).

Administrative hours differ between two city pages. The Fire page contact block lists Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM (Cocoa Beach Fire page), while the Staffing page says administrative staff work Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Cocoa Beach Fire Staffing page). A visit after 4 p.m. is safest after a call to 321-868-3330.

The Cocoa Beach Fire Department staffs its two stations with three shifts, each with a minimum of 9 personnel, working 24-hour shifts followed by 48 hours off (Cocoa Beach Fire Staffing page).

The Operations Division describes a team of 33 professionals on duty 24/7 and ready to respond (Cocoa Beach Fire Operations page). All personnel are on call for a serious fire, emergency or severe weather situation, according to the Staffing page (Cocoa Beach Fire Staffing page).

Firefighter applications are accepted from anyone who holds the State of Florida Minimum Standards for Firefighters certification plus a State of Florida Paramedic or EMT certification (Cocoa Beach Fire Staffing page). Hiring procedures belong to the City of Cocoa Beach Personnel Department, not the fire department itself (Cocoa Beach Fire Staffing page).

The department covers about 3.5 square miles of residential and commercial land on a barrier island roughly 6.5 miles long and 1.7 miles wide at its widest point, plus basic fire protection for the Thousand Islands area in the Banana River (Cocoa Beach Fire page).

The Fire page puts the year-round population served at approximately 11,600 residents, with seasonal residents, tourists and visitors raising the area's population to an average of 30,000 people a day during the tourist season (Cocoa Beach Fire page). The city's Police page gives a different resident count, approximately 11,000 residents, along with over 2 million visitors a year (Cocoa Beach Police page). Both figures are the city's own estimates, published on different department pages.

The department calls that land mass unique in shape because it is a barrier island, and the Thousand Islands area it also protects lies adjacent to Cocoa Beach in the Banana River (Cocoa Beach Fire page). Water rescues are on the department's emergency response list, and the Operations Division fleet includes rescue watercraft (Cocoa Beach Fire Operations page).

Cocoa Beach firefighters include state-certified Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics, trained on advanced procedures and equipment through the department's Medical Director (Cocoa Beach Emergency Medical Services page).

The department describes its goal as high-quality, progressive pre-hospital care (Cocoa Beach Emergency Medical Services page). Its staff also teach the public, with CPR, Stop the Bleed, Home Fire and Safety Surveys and AED review listed as offerings (Cocoa Beach Emergency Medical Services page).

The Community Paramedic Program reaches beyond emergency calls: in-home wellness checks, non-emergency medical support and assistance to local seniors through outreach and care coordination (Cocoa Beach Fire page). Questions about EMS go to the EMS Chief at 321-868-3200 ext. 703 (Cocoa Beach Emergency Medical Services page).

The Fire Prevention Division, headed by a Division Chief who serves as Fire Marshal, enforces the Florida Fire Prevention Code in Cocoa Beach and conducts all fire-related investigations within city limits (Cocoa Beach Fire Prevention Division page).

The Fire Marshal also sits on the city's Development Review Committee, which reviews plans for proposed new construction and performs the inspections that follow (Cocoa Beach Fire Prevention Division page). The division's stated approach is proactive inspection, plan review, training and public education (Cocoa Beach Fire Prevention Division page).

The division publishes these documents: an Annual Fire Inspection Checklist for Businesses, a Fire Watch Bulletin and Fire Watch Log, the 2022 Procedures for Mobile Food Vendor Inspections, a Grills on Balconies memo, a Vacation Rental Reference Checklist for transient rentals, and Special Events Crowd Manager Guidelines (Cocoa Beach Fire Prevention Division page). The city's rental rules themselves are covered in the Cocoa Beach vacation rental rules guide.

Ocean lifeguards on Cocoa Beach belong to Brevard County Ocean Rescue, a division of Brevard County Fire Rescue, not to the city fire department (Brevard County Ocean Rescue Services page).

All county ocean lifeguards are United States Lifesaving Association certified with at least First Responder training, and the year-round program staffs about 90 part-time and 26 full-time lifeguards under 3 full-time supervisors (Brevard County Ocean Rescue Services page). Full-time towers operate daily from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and the county lists Shepard Park, Lori Wilson Park and Minutemen Causeway in Cocoa Beach among them (Brevard County Ocean Rescue Services page).

Extra seasonal towers open in the last week of May. They run on weekends only up to Memorial Day, every day from then to the first week of August, and on weekends again through Labor Day, keeping the 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM hours (Brevard County Ocean Rescue Services page). Water rescues are on the city fire department's emergency response list, and the Fire page lists 911 as its emergency number (Cocoa Beach Fire page). Rip current and flag guidance is in the Cocoa Beach surf conditions and rip currents guide.

Last verified: October 21, 2026, when the five Cocoa Beach Fire Department pages (Fire, Staffing, Fire Operations, Emergency Medical Services, Fire Prevention), the city Police page and Brevard County's Ocean Rescue Services page were fetched again.