February 2021
Updated posting with call totals for 1955, call data for 1975 and 1976, and other information.
September 3, 2016
The Raleigh Emergency Rescue Squad was created in 1953. It was comprised of civilian volunteers and fire department drivers, and they operated equipment that was housed at the downtown fire station. (Their gear was initially funded by city, county, and private donations. They also subsequently received a monthly stipend from the county.) The squad responded in both the city and the county, but was not intended to compete with local ambulance services. They served primarily as a technical rescue unit, and also transporting patients when ambulances were not available in the city.
The volunteer component diminished over the early years (they primarily assisted with body recovery efforts in local lakes and rivers), and the rescue squad was soon operated exclusively by fire department members. A second rescue was added in 1975. After Wake County EMS was organized in 1976, “Raleigh rescue” served as their back-up, transporting patients when no county ambulance was available.
They also functioned as a private ambulance service, transporting firefighters in circumstances that included injuries at fires, injuries on duty, transfers between home and hospital, and even transporting family members.
How frequently were patients transported? As a sampling of official records finds (see below), they transported a few times a month in 1960 (one rescue), as many as 30 times a month by 1975 (two rescues), about the same amount in 1980, down to some ten a month in 1990 (two rescues), and just a couple times a year around 2001 (two rescues).
They stopped transporting patients around 2001. The reasons included that the department was no longer required to maintain that capability as part of their EMT-D requirement, and likely the very low call volume.
Still looking for more data and more oral histories. Will update as found.
Credits, left to right, top to bottom: News & Observer, City of Raleigh, City of Raleigh, Jeff Harkey, Lee Wilson
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