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17 MEMORANDUM TO: Orange County Commissioners John Link,County Manager FROM: Jack W.Ball,Emergency Management Director DATE: May 20,2005 SUBJECT: Emergency Fire and Rescue Services Introduction This memo is intended to provide background information for the Board's discussion of volunteer fire and rescue service issues at your May 23 work session including: the current structure of fire and rescue services throughout Orange County; some observations about some of the challenges and opportunities facing the County and its volunteer emergency service agency partners; and some areas the Board may wish to have staff explore with agency representatives in more detail regarding enhanced County support to agencies,opportunities for efficiencies,and the-like. Structure Orange County's emergency fire and rescue services consist of two municipal fire departments, eight volunteer fire departments,and two volunteer rescue departments. The volunteer organizations are incorporated through the State, and where appropriate and applicable, are franchised by the County Commissioners to provide certain emergency services. Under the oversight of their respective Boards of Directors,these agencies act independently of each other in their operations. Each has a strong reputation in the community and each understandably takes pride in its own individuality. There is a strong network of mutual aid understandings between departments that assures Orange County residents that when additional resources are needed in one jurisdiction,say to fight a major fire,adjacent departments will respond immediately to assist in the incident or to provide interim coverage to the rest of that one jurisdiction. In the early 1990s,County staff and volunteers worked together to conduct an extensive assessment of and recommendations for the best ways to provide rescue services throughout Orange County. Generally speaking,the approach involved developing and enhancing in- County capabilities for high frequency rescue incidents through resources that would be deployed as necessary on a countywide basis. Low frequency or highly specialized rescue services would be solicited as needed from resources beyond Orange County. More than a decade later,we believe that the"rescue service matrix"developed as a part of that analytical process(and provided for reference elsewhere with your May 23 agenda materials)continues to provide a solid framework for rescue service provision in Orange County.