[quote name='njfdplfc5' post='196574' date='Mar 13 2008, 11:54 ']I remebr seeing someinthing once about the irvington Volunteer Rescue Squad was there such a unit[/quote]
Yes there was such an agency, I was a member of it from 1987-1990. When I joined, it was a Cinderella type story before the fairy godmother intervened. It was operated under OEM, who also had the auxiliary police. We were housed in the former fire headquarters on Durand Place, and had two light-duty utility type trucks.
The primary truck was a 1985 Chevy C-30 chassis with the semi-enclosed body from the former truck which was a 1968-1972 model. The secondary unit, which didn't see much use, was an open backed mid-late 70s Chevy C-30. Neither truck was in that great of shape when I was a member. There wasn't much rehab work done on the body of the old truck when it was remounted, so there was a considerable amout of rust-through on it.
The members of the Irvington Rescue Squad had visions of making it a respected and honorable service, but the town didn't necessarily see it that way. There were a few EMTs who could operate as first responders when an ambulance wasn't available, but the police wouldn't send them in many cases. The bulk of the squad work consisted of vehicle lockouts and cutting and removing fallen tree branches after a storm. There was no notification or pager system for off-hour incidents and the inservice time was only 6PM-midnight. For the most part the rescue squad was treated as the unwanted stepchild.
Eventually the town was convinced and a new truck was purchased in the early 90s, an International/Rescue 1 was placed in service. I was led to believe that in the late 90s or early 2000s the FD wanted the truck stationed at their headquarters so they could use it during the times the squad was not in service. Eventually this caused the morale to suffer and the squad disbanded.
Yes there was such an agency, I was a member of it from 1987-1990. When I joined, it was a Cinderella type story before the fairy godmother intervened. It was operated under OEM, who also had the auxiliary police. We were housed in the former fire headquarters on Durand Place, and had two light-duty utility type trucks.
The primary truck was a 1985 Chevy C-30 chassis with the semi-enclosed body from the former truck which was a 1968-1972 model. The secondary unit, which didn't see much use, was an open backed mid-late 70s Chevy C-30. Neither truck was in that great of shape when I was a member. There wasn't much rehab work done on the body of the old truck when it was remounted, so there was a considerable amout of rust-through on it.
The members of the Irvington Rescue Squad had visions of making it a respected and honorable service, but the town didn't necessarily see it that way. There were a few EMTs who could operate as first responders when an ambulance wasn't available, but the police wouldn't send them in many cases. The bulk of the squad work consisted of vehicle lockouts and cutting and removing fallen tree branches after a storm. There was no notification or pager system for off-hour incidents and the inservice time was only 6PM-midnight. For the most part the rescue squad was treated as the unwanted stepchild.
Eventually the town was convinced and a new truck was purchased in the early 90s, an International/Rescue 1 was placed in service. I was led to believe that in the late 90s or early 2000s the FD wanted the truck stationed at their headquarters so they could use it during the times the squad was not in service. Eventually this caused the morale to suffer and the squad disbanded.
Facebook
Google
Reddit
Twitter