“The City of Panama City Beach” as it currently exists, started the incorporation process in 1969 and was formally incorporated on August 12, 1970. The city was created as a result of the merger of the original four communities on the island: Edgewater, Panama City Beach, Long Beach and West Panama City Beach.

In the late 50’s the community of Long Beach established the first fire department, followed shortly after by West Panama City Beach. Both departments were all volunteers.

After the city incorporation in 1970, the two separate fire departments merged into one and “Panama City Beach Fire Department” was born.

Not much history about the Long Beach fire department is known.

• September 1959 the City of West Panama City Beach declared & established fire districts.
• October 1959 the first fire station was built and the first fire engine was purchased.
• December 1959 the city approved a utility tax on the power & phone bills to help pay for fire protection.
• July 1960 the city passed an ordinance allowing the volunteer firefighters to be designated as police officers with full authority when under the supervision of a regular patrolman to help out in busy times.
• September 1960 a junior firefighter program was started.
• September 1960 the city gave permission for the fire department to respond outside of the city limits to fight a house fire when assistance was requested.

The fire department schedule back then was as follows:

• Department meetings were held on the 2^nd Tuesday of each month at 7:30 p.m.
• Training drills were held on the 2^nd Wednesday & 4^th Saturday of each month at 1:30 p.m.

When Panama City Beach Fire Department started it went from all volunteer firefighters, to mostly volunteers and a few career firefighters, to eventually in the late 80’s/early 90’s converting over to all career firefighters.

In the beginning the fire department would operate off a telephone system and fire alarm siren that would notify all the volunteers of a fire. Later after the first paid firefighter was hired, the emergency phone call would come into the fire station, where the firefighter would take all the information, dispatch the emergency over the fire radio & plectron system to alert the other firefighters, then respond to the emergency in the fire engine. Eventually as technology improved all 911 emergency calls would be routed to the Panama City Beach Police Department where they would dispatch the fire department to all emergencies. Today this process is handled by the Bay County Emergency Operations Center.

The original salary for the volunteer fire chief in 1967 was $50. The first career fire chief in 1970 was paid $4,800/year plus utilities and an apartment inside the fire station. Today the salary and benefits are definitely better.

Over the years the members of the fire department realized the need for advanced education and further job diversity. The people we serve are valued customers and they needed more from their fire department than just someone who showed up to put a fire out. In 1997 the fire department established a very thorough and aggressive Basic Life Support Emergency Medical Response Plan and changed its name from Panama City Beach Fire Department to Panama City Beach Fire Rescue.

Panama City Beach Fire Rescue can proudly boast that it continued growing its medical program to eventually become a fully functioning Advanced Life Support (ALS) agency in 2010 with Paramedics responding on our apparatus and had the first Fire based ALS program in the county. Panama City Beach was also the first fire department in the county to get an AED and Lifepak defibrillators, and now has an AED on every Fire Rescue vehicle and Lifepaks on every ALS unit.

Our agency was the first in the county to start a sUAS Drone program with a team of licensed pilots and a Reserve Responder program made up of Firefighters and Paramedics from other agencies working on a part time basis (allowing us to increase staffing during peak times).

In 2018 the Beach Safety Division fell under the operations of the fire department and grew from 3 to 20 fulltime personnel. All this planning, training, growth and effort was done to provide the BEST service possible to our “Customers”.

The “Customers” of Panama City Beach Fire Rescue have come to realize that we do more than just fight fires. They know that we also provide:

• Advanced Life Support (ALS)   
• Aerial Drone Program (with payload drop system, and FLIR camera)          
• Vehicle extrication
• Haz-Mat response
• Water/Surf rescue
• High angle rope rescue
• Confined space rescue
• Fire prevention/Safety classes
• CPR/First aid courses
• Fire inspections
• Station/Vehicle tours
• Blood pressure checks
• Wildfire response
• Disaster Deployments (response and incident management)
• Special Events (response and incident management)

Throughout the growth of the city, the department has grown and relocated fire stations to better meet the demands and needs of our “customers”.

Fire Station 30 was built in 2020 in the center of the city, located at 160 North Nautilus Street. Fire Station 30 houses Battalion 30, Rescue 30, Ladder 30, Engine 30, Brush 30 and is the location of the department’s training tower which was built in 2024.

Fire Station 31 relocated in 1993 from its old location on Firenzo Street) to its new location at 17121 Panama City Beach Parkway on the west side of the city. The station was demolished and rebuilt in the same location and became operational in 2025. Fire Station 31 serves as our Fire Administration Headquarters and houses Rescue 31, Engine 31, Engine 31 Reserve and Special Operations 31 (our mass casualty and special events unit).

Fire Station 32 was built in 1984 at its original location at 10015 Hutchinson Blvd. on the east side of the city. The department will soon start operating out of new Fire Station 32 at its new location at 11911 Hutchinson Blvd. Fire Station 32 houses Rescue 32, Engine 32, Engine 32 Reserve.

The Beach Safety Division will start operating out of their new Beach Safety Headquarters located at 10015 Hutchinson Blvd. (old Station 32’s location) in 2026.

Panama City Beach Fire Rescue is eager & willing to face what the future and anticipated growth has in store and is strategically planning to provide for better/faster response to the rapidly growing areas on the city’.

Despite the changes over the years and no matter what the future holds, one thing has remained the same and will NEVER change. Panama City Beach Fire Rescue is “Dedicated to Customer Service” and our mission is “Providing you with the highest level of protection available”.

Fire Chiefs

• 1968-1970                             Bill Haywood (West PCB VFD, then PCB VFD)
• 1970-Sept 1973                    William Joseph Flynn
• Sept 1973-Nov 1973             Lou Corea (interim chief)
• Nov 1973-Feb 1974             William Joseph Flynn
• 1974-1982                            Ernest Brown
• 1982-1983                            Warren Patterson
• 1983-1985                            Duncan Alford
• 1985-2002                            Mike Brown
• 2002-2018                            John Daly
• 2018-2020                            Larry Couch
• 2020-Present                        Raymond Morgan