Prior to 1981, there were 14 fire control districts serving Orange County and each district had elected Fire Commissioners overseeing Fire Operations. The decision was made to consolidate these individual districts creating one Fire Department to serve unincorporated Orange County under the authority of the Board of County Commissioners.

Consolidation would insure the level of fire service in Orange County would be equal with regard to equipment, training and staffing. Extensive and continuous training, and research for the best possible equipment performed this task. Now looking back, 24 years later, it has been proven that the consolidation was successful. The recent challenges of FireStorm 1998, Wildland Fires of 2000, numerous multi-alarm Fires and Hazardous Material Alarms, and the Hurricanes of 2004, have proved the advantage of having one Professional Fire Department serving the citizens of Orange County. Orange County Fire Rescue has grown to be one of best in the State of Florida and is among the best in the nation. Always striving to improve, we will continue to meet the challenges of Orange County.