Paul Teague

Three months after the creation of a Caldwell County Rescue Readiness Board, local volunteer rescue squads are being realigned. According to board chairman and Lenoir Fire Department Chief Ken Briscoe, the transitions are aimed at enhancing emergency responses throughout the county.

The moves follow actions by the Caldwell County Board of Commissioners to create the readiness board and to reclassify the tax collected for the county's rescue squads into a rescue readiness tax that is allocated to fire and rescue departments and Caldwell County EMS.

"We got the charge from the county commissioners about moving rescue in Caldwell County forward," Briscoe said. "The first thing that we did is establish committees."

Briscoe said the committees are looking at target areas for rescue in the county, the equipment that is needed and where to locate teams to improve effectiveness.

"Our analysis of Caldwell County shows us that North 321 is going to be one of our high-target areas as far as motor vehicle accidents once that area is opened up (after ongoing construction is completed). What we are trying to do is put our focus on meeting our needs in the northern end."

Briscoe said analysis has shown the county is well served from a rescue standpoint in the southern and central part of the county. He noted that Lovelady Rescue Squad will continue to be involved in rescue operations, along with North Catawba Fire and Rescue and a merged Hudson Fire Department and Hudson Rescue Squad. The central part of the county is being served by Lenoir Fire Department and Lenoir Rescue Squad, though the rescue squad's ultimate future remains in question. Briscoe said he would like to see Lenoir Rescue work with another volunteer fire department with equipment.

"What we are hoping is that we can sit down with Lenoir Rescue and see if they are willing to move some of their heavy rescue equipment up to the old Patterson Fire Department building (now owned by the county) and work with Patterson Fire Department."

Briscoe, a former deputy director for the North Carolina Fire and Rescue Commission and current member of its board, said the changes are in keeping with national trends where increasing numbers of fire department personnel also are being certified in rescue operations. Aside from nearly mandatory emergency medical technician training, Briscoe said firefighter officer training also has been streamlined at the state level to eliminate duplication in order to receive rescue certification as well.

"What we want is when you get a response from the city, you know that the person who gets there will be stepping off as an EMT, a firefighter and a rescue technician," Briscoe said. "Hopefully we have prepared them to face whatever incident he is responding to."

He added that he understands how the changes may be unsettling, though he reiterated a directive from the county commissioners to work with the rescue squads on financial matters.

"It's kind of like anything new or any kind of change in that it's painful sometimes," he said. "But if you are changing for the right reasons and not for the sake of change, you can get over these pains.

"And the county commissioners were very clear that the debt services (for the rescue squads) would be taken care of by the board, whether it be vehicles at Lenoir Rescue Squad, Hudson Rescue Squad or Lovelady Rescue Squad."

Keeping the existing rescue volunteers involved also is something Briscoe hopes to see.

"I would hope that they would seriously look at working with the fire departments," he said. "It would be a waste to have some of that talent not being used."