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