Police do sometimes go into fires if it's safe for them to do so and they know someone is in the burning building.
However if not they will wait until the fire fighters get there with their protective equipment.
Also police are usually patrolling the streets and can usually be at the scene of the fire sooner than the fire fighters can so that is one reason they will usually arrive first.
When the cops or police show up at fires what they do during the fires is investigate any crime, take reports, control traffic and they can also perform CPR and render some form of medical aid to someone.
Police come to fires for several reasons such as investigating the fires for crime such as arson, or if someone dies the police have to make a report on the person or people who died and then report it to the coroners.
Also police will come to fires to help control traffic and keep people away from the fire scene.
The police service is responsible for the prevention and detection of crime and for reporting to the Coroner any death that results from a fire.
The police are solely responsible for the direction and control of any criminal investigation into the cause of any non-accidental fire.
If it is a vehicle accident scene the police are required to report on it in many cases.
At fires or other accidents causing injuries the police may be looking for the possibility of foul play being involved.
The police are also are often required to control traffic or crowds at fire scenes.
Police will sometimes attend when an ambulance is called.
However not all ambulance requests require the police to attend or show up along with them.
But if there's violence involved or a crime scene where someone is injured due to a crime such as a stabbing, shooting etc then the police will arrive first, secure the scene and then allow the paramedics to enter the crime scene to do what they need to do.
The paramedics won't go into the crime scene even if someone is injured badly until the scene has been secured.
For most ambulance calls the ambulance only shows up.
However if someone dies then the police will show up to make a report and note down that it was not a crime or murder when the person died.
Most times though when you call an ambulance it will be a first responder or just the ambulance.
However if the police can get to the location faster than the ambulance then the police will usually show up and render aid as much as they can while they wait on the ambulance.
Or in some cases the fire department will show up as they are also trained medically.