Orange County NC Website
19 <br /> 1 Located in center of Northern Orange County <br /> 2 <br /> 3 CONCLUSION <br /> 4 • More strategic planning needed <br /> 5 • Continue our work with fire partners <br /> 6 • Continuing providing excellence in service <br /> 7 • Prepared, Coordinated and Integrated Emergency Services System <br /> 8 <br /> 9 Future Protections- Dinah Jeffries <br /> 10 Orange County Emergency Services EMS is an on-going and at times almost continuous <br /> 11 service that functions 24-hours a day throughout the entire County. Not all existing locations <br /> 12 were based on strategic planning, so this concern must be addressed as a long term issue in <br /> 13 future planning. Fire and EMS personnel work together throughout the county every day and <br /> 14 the common goal to always provide more than is expected remains throughout the system. <br /> 15 Staff will provide any other information at the meeting, and the governing boards can discuss <br /> 16 issues and provide feedback to staff related to this item as necessary. <br /> 17 <br /> 18 Dinah Jeffries said the vision is that this emergency services system be prepared, <br /> 19 coordinated, and integrated, and this requires the continued cooperation of all involved parties, <br /> 20 for which she is very grateful. She said Orange County has some of the best trained, and most <br /> 21 professional, responders in the State, and the nation. <br /> 22 Carrboro Council Member Slade said Carrboro just completed a facility assessment, and <br /> 23 he is intrigued to hear about co-location, as the Carrboro fire station has some adjacent space. <br /> 24 He said if the County provided funding, there could be room to build onto the station in <br /> 25 Carrboro. He said the stand-alone station in downtown Carrboro is an economic development <br /> 26 opportunity. <br /> 27 Dinah Jeffries said her department is open to all invites. She said that the stand-alone <br /> 28 station in Carrboro is South Orange Rescue Squad (SORS), which has very limited space to <br /> 29 co-locate EMS there. <br /> 30 Commissioner McKee commended EMS and the fire departments, and said he <br /> 31 remembered the skepticism years ago about co-locations. He encouraged the re-staffing of the <br /> 32 Orange Grove Fire Department co-location. He said he is aware of 2 situations where the <br /> 33 ambulance being in Orange Grove allowed for tragedy to be avoided. <br /> 34 Mayor Lavelle said Carrboro has one of the highest call volumes, and asked if EMS is at <br /> 35 fire station number 1 in Carrboro. <br /> 36 Kim Woodward said EMS is located at both fire stations in Carrboro, but call locations <br /> 37 are all calls in Carrboro. <br /> 38 Mayor Lavelle said Carrboro has a new Fire Chief called Dave Schmidt. <br /> 39 Hillsborough Commissioner Member Hughes said Hillsborough has the second highest <br /> 40 call volume, and asked if this refers to Hillsborough proper or the greater Hillsborough <br /> 41 Township. <br /> 42 Dinah Jeffries said the greater Hillsborough Township, and this includes station 1 and 5. <br /> 43 She said the reason Hillsborough's numbers have grown so much is due to the additional <br /> 44 medical facilities in the area. She said there EMS is there daily. <br /> 45 Chapel Hill Council Member Buansi thanked Emergency Services, and asked if the need <br /> 46 for mutual aid partners is comparable with past years. <br /> 47 Kim Woodard said the need is less now, as compared to 2010, but the trend is moving <br /> 48 up, and staff is keeping a close eye. She said it would be great if Orange and surrounding <br /> 49 counties could work this out, but there are days that are surge days, and they do not parse out <br />