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{ <br /> 2 <br /> MEMORANDUM <br /> TO: Orange County Board of Commissioners <br /> John Link, County Manager <br /> FROM: Rod Visser, Assistant County Manager <br /> Nick Waters, Director of Emergency Management <br /> DATE: September 29, 1994 <br /> RE: Rescue Service Options <br /> During the last few months, we have conducted a series of very <br /> productive meetings with various emergency service providers to obtain <br /> information concerning the provision of rescue service in Orange <br /> County. We have examined how rescue service is currently provided, <br /> what options exist for providing that service, and what we think is the <br /> best approach for providing rescue service in Orange County today. Our <br /> analysis included a review of the different categories of rescue <br /> service that are and should be provided; the historical and <br /> anticipated incidence of rescue calls in each of those categories; <br /> and the current, and desirable future, capabilities of agencies to <br /> respond to various categories of rescue calls. The matrix at <br /> Attachment 1 represents our effort to succinctly capture the main <br /> points of our analysis. <br /> During staff and agency discussions, widespread agreement emerged <br /> on a number of points and principles: <br /> * the driving force behind the structure of rescue service must be the <br /> best possible service to Orange County' s citizens, regardless of which <br /> agencies provide that service; <br /> * the most economical use of limited resources for rescue, being wary <br /> of unnecessary duplication of service capability; <br /> * the need for extensive coordination and cooperation between the <br /> rescue squads, volunteer fire departments, municipal fire departments, <br /> Orange County Emergency Management, and other emergency responders; <br /> * the focus of rescue service provision should be Countywide, rather <br /> than by individual response area; <br /> * resources should be allocated in priority to meeting the most likely <br /> and frequent categories of rescue calls (primarily light vehicle <br /> extrication) while ensuring that a capability to respond to any of the <br /> categories of rescue calls exists (among agencies either internal or <br /> external to Orange County) . <br /> A strong spirit of cooperation among emergency response agencies has <br /> led to the development of a draft working agreement (Attachment <br /> 2) between the South Orange Rescue Squad (SORS) and Orange County <br /> Rescue Squads (OCRS) . OCRS has agreed to provide heavy rescue <br /> throughout Orange County, SORS will provide technical rescue services <br /> throughout Orange County, and the rescue squads and fire <br /> departments will work to provide light vehicle extrication, which is by <br /> far the most frequently required rescue service. County staff will <br /> work with rescue providers to augment their organic rescue capabilities <br /> with centralized resources. Centralizing certain resources should help <br />