BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Birmingham Fire and Rescue Services will soon add new safety technology to its toolkit after the Birmingham City Council approved an agreement with Axon Enterprise Inc. to lease 30 body cameras for firefighters.
City officials said the cameras will also be worn by fire inspectors and paramedics responding to calls, with the footage used mainly for training and to support incident investigations, Birmingham Fire Department representatives told WBRC.
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“In the past, a lot of these cases have relied on written descriptions and drawings of what may have occurred, so these cameras will really assist our fire inspectors in that regard,” Council President Wardine Alexander said. “If you take the recent fire and alleged arson that occurred in Five Points South, as our staff go in and inspect the site, this technology will help them have a better visual and will be a real game-changer for how we approach similar situations.”
The three-year agreement, which begins Jan. 1, 2026, will cost the city just over $170,000.
Does your department provide body-worn cameras? If so, how are they used?
EMS1 readers respond
“We have provided body-worn cameras for a little over 2 years. We focus on learning opportunities. Any time we get a complaint about a crew, I review the video and call the complainant to discuss the call. With very few exceptions, the complaint was invalid, and of those few exceptions, the crew’s behavior was nowhere near as bad as the caller made it out to be, resulting in some coaching with the crew. We have had two instances which showed two different medics whose performance was not compatible with our standards. Body-worn cameras are a must for EMS in my opinion. If implementing, I suggest reminding staff that no one has the time to watch all of the cameras all of the time. I recommend viewing certain call types (we review all cardiac arrests for instance) as well as a random call type or two each month as well as any time there is a question or complaint from the public, other agencies or a hospital. The crews can review their videos with their battalion chiefs, captains, or the command staff.”
“This is amazing! I wish my rural FD would allow this! As an EMT this would be so helpful and provides us some securities while out in the field.”
“If I’m a patient, I don’t want my business out there.”
“I believe body cams are a good idea in order to protect us from allegations of misconduct.”
