The Shreveport Fire Department Safety and Special Operations Division's primary goal is to ensure the personal safety of all of the members of the Shreveport Fire Department.  This administrative division utilizes full time District Safety Officers (DSO) for each of its three 24 hour shifts.  There are six DSO on duty at all times for each of the six designated fire department districts in the city of Shreveport.  All of these DSO have been trained and certified as Fire Department Incident Safety Officers through the Fire Department Safety Officer’s Association.  Their duties include emergency scene safety, station safety inspections, inspection of personal protective equipment, accountability of fire crews, emergency driving, and teach safety training classes. 

This division oversees and monitors the overall Health, Wellness and Fitness of all members of the department.  This is accomplished through the Fire Service Joint Labor-Management Wellness and Fitness Initiative that was developed through the International Association of Firefighters and the International Association of Fire Chiefs.  The firefighter wellness oversees annual health physicals for all members, annual fitness evaluations for all members, and promotes physical, mental, and behavioral well-being.  The program utilizes Peer Fitness Trainers that are certified as fitness instructors through the American Council on Exercise.  This program is designed so that our firefighters are as healthy and physically fit as possible to do the strenuous task they are required to do in the performance of their duty.

This division coordinates the Special Operations Response Team (SORT) for the department.  This includes training, equipment, and emergency response to Hazardous Materials, Vehicle Extrication, Water Rescue and Recovery, Trench Rescue, Urban Search and Rescue, Rope Rescue and High Angle, and Confined Space Rescue. 

This division also monitors infection control protection associated with patient care and provides a liaison to the medical community as well as state and federal regulatory agencies.

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The EMS Division  is responsible for planning, development, implementation and clinical oversight of all Basis Life Support (BLS) and Advanced Life Support (ALS) medical care for the city of Shreveport.

The EMS Division manages the Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) and Performance Management (PM) section for the Department. The CQI/PM team reviews and analyzes system performance with the goal of improving patient care and reducing clinical risk. This section researches and provides comprehensive data analysis, develops statistical reports, tracks and documents investigations of clinical concern, manages medical records, maintains biomedical equipment and actively coordinates with the EMS Billing and revenue program. The EMS Division conducted system audit reviews on 4700 patient reports. Skills tracking by Performance Management recorded EMS Operations performed 311 intubations, 11,976 IV's and worked 269 Cardiac Arrests.

The Fire Department EMS operations currently utilize ten paramedic ALS medic units. Two EMS Supervisors provide continuous field oversight and respond to all cardiac arrests and major incidents. EMS incidents acccounted for 71.68% of the total Fire Department 911 requests with 26,308 EMS calls dispatched. EMS provided 16,648 emergency transports. The average response time for BLS care is 4 minutes 41 seconds, and the average ALS care response is 4 minutes 45 seconds. The EMS operations for City of Shreveport special events are planned and staffed through the EMS Division. A total of 55 special service events were worked with 464 personnel staffed for a total of 3020 man-hours worked.