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12 <br />ORANGE COUNTY, AbRTH CAROLINA <br />H. ORANGE COUNTY ERE, RESCUE, AND EMERGENCY SERVICES <br />Orange County has a complex and sophisticated fire and rescue system. Fire <br />protection in the = County is_provided by two municipal- d-epartments (Carrboro and <br />Chapel Hill) and through a series of tax supported fire districts. The County enters <br />into contracts for services with -10- incorporated volunteer fire departments within <br />the County. The County also contracts with the North Chatham Volunteer Fire <br />Department in Chatham County to provide services to the Damascus Fire District and <br />the Southern Triangle Fire District. In addition, the Mebane Fire Department <br />(Alamance County) provides services within the Efland Fire District on a contract <br />basis for part of the response area. <br />The volunteer fire departments are organized in a similar fashion; each <br />volunteer department has a Board of Directors which oversees- policy matters and <br />selects the Fire Chief. The Fire Chief oversees daily operations of the fire department, <br />delegating functions to other command personnel. <br />The Orange County Fire Departments respond to approximately 10,000 calls <br />for service annually. The fire and rescue system includes 20 fire stations, and more <br />than 40 pieces of major apparatus, as well as support vehicles and equipment. There <br />are more than -430 volunteer, part -time, and career firefighting personnel devoted to <br />providing services. <br />The following pages provide an overview of fire, rescue, and emergency <br />services in the County. The response data illustrate the demand for - services. <br />Exhibit 4 provides a three -year summary of the responses made by fire departments <br />in the County during the period from 2007 to 2009. This information is based on <br />data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System ( NFIRS). Several departments <br />have not submitted full NFIRS information; as a result, the data are not included. The <br />exhibit indicates the number of fire responses, emergency medical service (EMS) <br />responses, and a category for all other responses. On average, 50.6 percent of <br />responses were for first responder /EMS services, 6.6 percent were for fire responses, <br />and 42.9 percent of calls were for other services, such as good intent, service calls, <br />severe weather /natural disaster, hazardous condition, false calls, and other calls for <br />service. The percent of responses in Orange County, by category, is similar to the <br />average responses, by category, in North Carolina in 2009. Exhibit 5 shows a <br />summary of fire department responses from 2007 to 2009 in graphic form. <br />* MMA CONSULTING GROUP, INC. 8 <br />