{"id":8117,"date":"2024-06-24T20:05:35","date_gmt":"2024-06-25T00:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/?p=8117"},"modified":"2026-07-23T13:46:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T17:46:55","slug":"new-hanover-rescue-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/new-hanover-rescue-history\/","title":{"rendered":"New Hanover County Ambulance and Rescue Services History"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Presenting a short history of ambulance and rescue services in New Hanover County, plus research notes and other resources.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>Resources\u00a0<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile\/100064768204023\/search\/?q=%22New%20Hanover%22\">Search Legeros Fire Line on Facebook for &#8220;New Hanover&#8221;\u00a0<\/a><\/li>\n<li>View visual history: <a href=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/history\/charts\/content\/new-hanover-rescue.jpg\">JPG<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/history\/charts\/content\/new-hanover-rescue.pdf\">PDF<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.legeros.com\/history\/ems\/new-hanover\/research-notes.pdf\">Read more detailed research notes<\/a>\u00a0(PDF).<\/li>\n<li>View various newspaper clippings in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/drive\/folders\/1dPVpHAmWjKtfo8x8oLarpSOPZPpDJ9qW?usp=drive_link\">Google Drive folder<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>1950s<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>1957, Feb &#8211; <strong>Cape Fear Ambulance Service<\/strong> was under new management, prices reduced, read an advertisement.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1958, Oct &#8211; <strong>Cape Fear Ambulance Service<\/strong> ceased answering emergency calls in the city and county, due to losing money. City started providing ambulance service through police department, county planned to equip the sheriff&#8217;s department to provide ambulance service.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1958, Oct &#8211; <strong>Wrightsville Beach<\/strong> reported as having emergency ambulance service, through permanent use of a &#8220;fully-equipped&#8221; Civil Air Patrol ambulance.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1958, Oct &#8211; County made 90 day agreement with <strong>Cape Fear Ambulance Company<\/strong> to provide emergency service to unincorporated areas, as a trial basis.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1958, Oct &#8211; Civil Air Patrol squadron ambulances were operating at <strong>Wrightsville Beach<\/strong> and <strong>Carolina Beach<\/strong>, and a third was being obtained at <strong>Fort Fisher<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1959, Feb &#8211; <strong>Cape Fear Ambulance Service<\/strong> ceased operating.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1959, Feb &#8211; <strong>Ambulance Service Company<\/strong> started operation.\u00a0 <!--more--><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>1960s<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>1962, July &#8211; <strong>New Hanover County Rescue Squad<\/strong> organized by members in the Ogden community.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1963, Aug &#8211; <strong>Ambulance Service Company<\/strong> ceased operation. They were located at 3105 Wrightsville Avenue.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1963, Aug &#8211; <strong>New Hanover County Rescue Squad<\/strong> planned to &#8220;partially provide&#8221; emergency ambulance service, to cover the service gap with the closing of the private company.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1964, Feb &#8211; <strong>New Hanover County Rescue Squad<\/strong> announced that free ambulance service would be provided at night and on weekends. They had one ambulance and a second expected to be ready in a couple days.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1964, Feb &#8211; Immediate deactivation of <strong>New Hanover County Rescue Squad<\/strong> ordered by Civil Defense Director, due to the squad now competing with local private ambulance service and thus not complying with government equipment procedures.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1964 Feb &#8211; By this time, <strong>Smith Funeral Home<\/strong> was operating an ambulance.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1964, ___ &#8211; Members of New Hanover County Rescue Squad reorganized as new <strong>Ogden Rescue Squad<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1967, June &#8211; By this time, <strong>Tate&#8217;s Ambulance Service<\/strong> was operating.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1967, July &#8211; By this time, <strong>Fort Fisher Air Station<\/strong> had an ambulance that occasionally served the nearby civilian community.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1967, July &#8211; <strong>Ogden Rescue Squad<\/strong> dedicated new building on Middle Sound Road.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1969, ___ &#8211; <strong>Wilmington FD<\/strong> started operating a rescue unit, a small utility truck.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>1970s<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>1970, Sep &#8211; <strong>T&amp;M Ambulance Service<\/strong>, operated by Henry Hoyle, started operation.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1972, Feb &#8211; Committee formed to evaluate needs for countywide ambulance service.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1972, Mar &#8211; Two private ambulance companies sought county funds to upgrade their equipment: <strong>T&amp;M Ambulance<\/strong> and <strong>Tate&#8217;s Ambulance<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1972, Aug &#8211; County completed a study on ambulance service after seven months of work, but offered no specific recommendation to simplify the situation.<\/li>\n<li>1972, Oct &#8211; <strong>Town of Carolina Beach<\/strong> refused to grant exclusive ambulance franchise to T&amp;M Ambulance Service.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1973, Mar &#8211; Second iteration of <strong>New Hanover Volunteer Rescue Squad<\/strong> started operation on March 28.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1973, May &#8211; T&amp;M Ambulance Service had been renamed <strong>New Hanover Ambulance Service<\/strong> by this time.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1973, Jun &#8211; <strong>Tate&#8217;s Ambulance Service<\/strong> ended operation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1974, ___ &#8211; <strong>Wilmington FD<\/strong> added an ambulance, but only transported patients in life-threatening situations.<\/li>\n<li>1975, Aug &#8211; <strong>Carolina Beach FD<\/strong> was operating an ambulance by this time, but only transported patients in life-threatening situations.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1977, Jan &#8211; <strong>Coastal Ambulance Service<\/strong> started operation, provided non-emergency transport services.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1977, Nov &#8211; County preparing new ambulance ordinance that would divide county in service areas, one for each ambulance service.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1979, Aug &#8211; <strong>New Hanover Ambulance Service<\/strong> suspended all operations, except certain services contracted to mortuaries.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1979, Aug? &#8211; <strong>Wilmington FD<\/strong> added second ambulance.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>1980s<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>1980, Feb &#8211; County proposal recommends creating countywide EMS system.<\/li>\n<li>1980, Jul &#8211; Effective July 1, the county started collecting $35 for all calls answered by the two county rescue squads.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1981, Jan &#8211; <strong>Carolina Beach Rescue Squad<\/strong> begins charging for emergency ambulance service.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1982, Jan &#8211; <strong>Carolina Beach Rescue Squad<\/strong> discontinued.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1982, Jan &#8211; <strong>Pleasure Island Volunteer Rescue Squad<\/strong> began operating.<\/li>\n<li>1982, Dec &#8211; Ground broken on new headquarters for <strong>Pleasure Island VRS<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1985, Aug &#8211; Ogden RS and New Hanover VRS merged on August 1. New organization named <strong>Ogden-New Hanover County Rescue Squad<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1986, Mar &#8211; Countywide EMS system took effect on March 1. Created <strong>New Hanover County EMS<\/strong>. Absorbed Ogden-New Hanover and Pleasure Island squads.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>1990s<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>1997, Feb &#8211; County commissioners suggest letting <strong>New Hanover Regional Medical Center<\/strong> take over county EMS department, since the program had been losing money.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>1998, ___ &#8211; <strong>New Hanover Regional EMS<\/strong> started operation, operated by the medical center. By June, they had 52 employees and six stations with paramedic-staffed ambulances.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.legeros.com\/history\/ems\/new-hanover\/research-notes.pdf\"><strong>Read more detailed research notes<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(PDF).<\/p>\n<div data-animation=\"no-animation\" data-icons-animation=\"no-animation\" data-overlay=\"on\" data-change-size=\"\" data-button-size=\"0.7\" style=\"font-size:0.7em!important;display:none;\" class=\"supsystic-social-sharing supsystic-social-sharing-package-flat supsystic-social-sharing-content supsystic-social-sharing-content-align-left\" data-text=\"\"><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-8 counter-standard without-counter facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Facebook\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Flegeros.com%2Fblog%2Fnew-hanover-rescue-history%2F\" data-main-href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u={url}\" data-nid=\"1\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"8117\" data-url=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" data-description=\"New Hanover County Ambulance and Rescue Services History\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-facebook\"><span>Share<\/span><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap standard\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-8 counter-standard without-counter twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Flegeros.com%2Fblog%2Fnew-hanover-rescue-history%2F&text=New+Hanover+County+Ambulance+and+Rescue+Services+History\" data-main-href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url={url}&text={title}\" data-nid=\"2\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"8117\" data-url=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" data-description=\"New Hanover County Ambulance and Rescue Services History\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-twitter\"><span>Share<\/span><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap standard\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-8 counter-standard without-counter pinterest\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Pinterest\" href=\"http:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/link\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flegeros.com%2Fblog%2Fnew-hanover-rescue-history%2F&description=New+Hanover+County+Ambulance+and+Rescue+Services+History\" data-main-href=\"http:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/link\/?url={url}&description={title}\" data-nid=\"7\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"8117\" data-url=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" data-description=\"New Hanover County Ambulance and Rescue Services History\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-pinterest\"><span>Share<\/span><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap standard\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Presenting a short history of ambulance and rescue services in New Hanover County, plus research notes and other resources.\u00a0 Resources\u00a0 Search Legeros Fire Line on Facebook for &#8220;New Hanover&#8221;\u00a0 View visual history: JPG | PDF Read more detailed research notes\u00a0(PDF). View various newspaper clippings in\u00a0Google Drive folder. 1950s 1957, Feb &#8211; Cape Fear Ambulance Service &#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/new-hanover-rescue-history\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading &lsquo;New Hanover County Ambulance and Rescue Services History&rsquo; &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n<div data-animation=\"no-animation\" data-icons-animation=\"no-animation\" data-overlay=\"on\" data-change-size=\"\" data-button-size=\"0.7\" style=\"font-size:0.7em!important;display:none;\" class=\"supsystic-social-sharing supsystic-social-sharing-package-flat supsystic-social-sharing-content supsystic-social-sharing-content-align-left\" data-text=\"\"><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-8 counter-standard without-counter facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Facebook\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Flegeros.com%2Fblog%2Fnew-hanover-rescue-history%2F\" data-main-href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u={url}\" data-nid=\"1\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"8117\" data-url=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" data-description=\"New Hanover County Ambulance and Rescue Services History\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-facebook\"><span>Share<\/span><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap standard\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-8 counter-standard without-counter twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Flegeros.com%2Fblog%2Fnew-hanover-rescue-history%2F&text=New+Hanover+County+Ambulance+and+Rescue+Services+History\" data-main-href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url={url}&text={title}\" data-nid=\"2\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"8117\" data-url=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" data-description=\"New Hanover County Ambulance and Rescue Services History\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-twitter\"><span>Share<\/span><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap standard\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-8 counter-standard without-counter pinterest\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Pinterest\" href=\"http:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/link\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flegeros.com%2Fblog%2Fnew-hanover-rescue-history%2F&description=New+Hanover+County+Ambulance+and+Rescue+Services+History\" data-main-href=\"http:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/link\/?url={url}&description={title}\" data-nid=\"7\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"8117\" data-url=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" data-description=\"New Hanover County Ambulance and Rescue Services History\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-pinterest\"><span>Share<\/span><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap standard\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,3,11,24],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8117"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8117"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10782,"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8117\/revisions\/10782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}