Rescue squad will be reinstated in Orange

HILLSBOROUGH -- The county's emergency services director is reinstating the Orange County Rescue Squad into the county's emergency response system.

This past summer, EMS Director Frank Montes de Oca placed the squad on stand-down over operational and safety concerns.

This week he announced the squad will return to service for special events, overflow medical calls and search-and-rescue operations on land.

The squad will no longer be involved in motor vehicle extrication.

"With every fire department providing - or soon to be providing - extrication service, the need for another similar service would be duplicative," wrote Montes de Oca in a memo to the Orange County Board of Commissioners.

The county is renegotiating its $50,000 annual contract with the squad "as services formerly provided by OCRS will no longer be provided."

In shutting down the squad last summer, Montes de Oca described equipment falling out of an ambulance in traffic, drivers pulling out of the station too fast, and rescuers using unsafe and improper tools.

County Manager Laura Blackmon supported Montes de Oca's decision because Orange County Emergency Services and 12 different fire departments already provide emergency response services.

In September, seven of the county's 12 fire chiefs also issued a joint statement supporting the squad's expulsion, saying mutual aid agreements provided sufficient back-up.

The commissioners had asked Montes de Oca to work with the rescue squad to address his concerns.

In his latest memo, Montes de Oca said the squad is a "community asset" with narrowly defined functions that will help it fit into the "quilt of first responders."

The commissioners will receive the memo at a meeting Monday night.