JBFD responds to 94% of 911 calls in 6 minutes or less in 2018

Jacksonville Beach negotiates with Jacksonville about JFRD taking over services

JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. – When every minute counts, the Jacksonville Beach Fire Department says its No. 1 objective is to respond to 90 percent of 911 calls in six minutes.

New documents reveal that it did, in fact, meet those goals in 2018.  

This comes as the city of Jacksonville Beach is negotiating with the city of Jacksonville to have the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department eventually take over fire services.

DOCUMENT: Jacksonville Beach Fire Department 2018 statistics |
RELATED: JFRD could take over fire services in Jacksonville Beach

The importance of response times in Jacksonville Beach was a sad reminder over the weekend after authorities said a man was found dead in his home after a fire.

Four minutes or less was Jacksonville Beach Fire Department's response time in 2018 for 72 percent of its calls, beating its goal of 70 percent. 

Six minutes or less was JBFD's response time for 94 percent of its calls, beating its goal of 90 percent.

In June of last year, JFRD’s average response time was seven minutes.

People who live in Jacksonville Beach want to know if that response time will remain if the city of Jacksonville takes over Jacksonville Beach's fire services. 

Randy Wyse, president of the Jacksonville Association of Firefighters, said, if anything, he expects response times to go down.

"We will be able to put a lot more firefighters on the scene of a fire a lot quicker than they are able to do now," Wyse told News4Jax on Wednesday. "It’s due to the integration of dispatch. We will all be dispatched at the same time and there will be a lot more backup for this first initial crews a lot quicker."

He said Jacksonville Beach firefighters could stay at one of Jacksonville Beach's two stations or they could end up at any of Duval County's nearly 60 stations, including at Fire Station 5, which is in Mixon Town. Or they could end up in the Moncrief Park area at Fire Station Station 18. Or they could end up somewhere on the Southside like Fire Station 28. Fire Station 15 in San Marco is also an option. 

The two cities remain in the process of negotiating to find an agreement that works for both.

"Some of the hiccups that may occur along the way is we may become a tenant of theirs -- our people living in their firehouse and who fixes the air conditioner or who fixes the broken bay door, things like that," Wyse said. "But those are the things that they’re trying to work out now."

News4Jax checked in with Jacksonville Beach on Wednesday and the former interim city manager said the proposed agreement is still in negotiation. She said she expects preliminary discussion with the Jacksonville Beach City Council to begin in four to five weeks. The Jacksonville City Council will have weeks of its own discussion, as well. Both councils must ultimately approve the plan and a transition would take about three or four months, according to Wyse.

Neptune and Atlantic beaches and the Jacksonville International Airport already have agreements with JFRD. If the Jacksonville Beach agreement moves forward, JFRD would cover the whole county, which is Wyse thinks would be a benefit for Duval County.

One service that would go away in Jacksonville Beach if a deal is reached is free child safety seat inspections, which nearly 200 Jacksonville Beach residents did for free last year.