Emergency Services

History Emergency Management Emergency Medical Services Fire Services Safety Officer Staff

     The Stanly County Emergency Services Department can actually trace its beginnings back to the late 1950s and early 1960s. During that time period, the County Commissioners formed an agency known as the Stanly County Civil Defense Agency. This was a time of nuclear proliferation in the world and the Cold War was in full swing. The job of the Civil Defense Coordinator was to prepare the citizenry to protect itself and recover from a potential invasion by enemy forces and to coordinate activities of emergency personnel in preparation and response to such an event. During this time period, it was realized that many of the same response and recovery activities were used for non-war related emergencies. Thus the name such agencies used across the nation was changed to Civil Preparedness.   It was during the middle 1950s that many volunteer fire departments and rescue organizations were formed. This agency played a vital role in the formation and equipping of these organizations for both peacetime and wartime response.
     During the 1970s and early 1980s, this agency and its responsibilities continued to evolve and increase to the public for day to day emergencies. While invasion is always a possibility, planning for such an event took on an almost non-existent role on the state and local levels.   The name of the agency changed again to Emergency Management to more accurately reflect the role of planning, response, recovery, and mitigation for a myriad of man-made and natural emergencies.
     During this time period the fire problems grew. There was a need for more coordination of the fire service agencies and someone trained in fire cause investigations and fire prevention activities.    The new duties of Fire Marshal were integrated into the office of Emergency Management in the County.
     Also during the 1960s, the funeral homes got out of the ambulance business and over the years a for profit and a volunteer ambulance service surfaced. County government heavily subsidized both agencies. State certification of the evolving emergency medical service mandated individual training requirements. Quality of care still varied greatly until the early 1980s when the Emergency Management Agency and a Board appointed advisory council became responsible for insuring a minimum standard of care was met and recommending improvements in the system. During the early 1980s the franchised EMS providers, again with heavy financial commitments from the County, began advancing from basic emergency medical care and transport to higher levels of care. These advances basically brought treatment to the scene of the emergency that previously had to wait until the patient arrived at an emergency room, thus greatly increasing survivability. As this progression up the levels of care occurred it became increasingly evident to the Advisory Council, hospital officials, and County officials that the only way to obtain the highest level of care consistently across the County was for the County to assume responsibility to provide the primary emergency medical service in the County. On January 10, 1989, the County assumed operations from the Ambulance Service of Stanly County, Inc. and on February 1 assumed the primary coverage being provided by West Stanly Rescue, Inc. The responsibility of the new Stanly County Emergency Medical Services was placed in the Emergency Management Agency/Fire Marshal’s Office and the department renamed the Emergency Services Department to better depict the integration of these emergency service responsibilities. The EMS division then proceeded quickly to the Paramedic level, which is the highest certification recognized by the State of North Carolina.
     Emergency Communications has never been a part of this agency. However, this agency has historically been involved in communications upgrades and was responsible for setting up and serving as staff to the 911 Steering Committee during its initial implementation stages. 911 Communications is a separate department and is not included in the Emergency Services Department. This was recommended by the steering committee to eliminate as many “turf” problems as possible between the emergency service providers throughout the County.

     Emergency Management (EM) evolved from the old Civil Defense program of the 1950s. Emergency Management is a four-phase approach of preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation to a wide range of emergency situations. These situations include fire, flood, hazardous materials, severe storms, dam failure, terrorism, explosions, plane crash, mass casualty events, etc. During the last ten years Stanly County has been included on three presidential disaster declarations for hurricane damage and one small business disaster declaration for flooding. These declarations open up financial avenues from the federal government to assist with recovery to public agencies, private organizations, and individual citizens.While the program is a local government function, it is part of a team that includes the Emergency Management Division located in the North Carolina Department of Crime Control and Public Safety, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The State and Federal agencies do set certain expectations from the local agency in return for some funding and equipment. The current funding to this program is just over $11,000 per year and we have received around $3,000 worth of equipment during each of the past two years. The cash funding has decreased since 1999, especially for agencies that have more duties than just Emergency Management. Funding for specific pieces of equipment is expected to increase as the State Division attempts to get all Counties standardized in certain capabilities.
     A County Emergency Operations Plan is printed and has been approved by agencies that have duties during a major event. This plan details the responsibilities of the various agencies. It also includes references to various ordinances and statutes including the County Emergency Management Ordinance. This ordinance provides the governing board chairman the authority to declare a State of Emergency. A State of Emergency Proclamation gives the chairman the authority to restrict movement of people, enact curfews, mandate evacuations, and other type “marshal law” activities in order to maintain order and provide for the safety of the citizens. It is also the first step in making application for declaration of disaster by the Governor and President.
     In the event of a major incident or disaster, an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) has been established in the basement of the Courthouse. In fact, the entire basement is considered the EOC. However, the Emergency Services Office, Operations/Conference Room, and 911 Center are the major areas used. A grant was received in 1983 to provide emergency power, a well for an emergency water supply, communications equipment, and other miscellaneous equipment to provide up to two weeks survivability. The area must be maintained for an EOC and any changes in use or layout are to be approved by the State. Failure to comply may result in the grant having to be paid back. The formula used for this place the current payback at approximately $100,000. The EOC provides safe haven for government officials to provide direction and control of emergency response and recovery during a disaster. It is the responsibility of EM to maintain the EOC for quick activation.
     Another major responsibility of Emergency Management staff is coordination of activities mandated by several statutes and federal acts concerning hazardous materials. The major one is the Superfund and Reauthorization Act (SARA), which mandates planning activities, industry reporting of chemical information, and community right to know. The State currently maintains six regional hazardous materials response teams to respond to haz-mat incidents to assist in evaluation and containment. Our regional team is located in Fayetteville. Charlotte Fire Department also has a team that is not part of the State regional teams. They will respond if available upon request, however the County may be responsible for the cost if the responsible party cannot be determined. A fully operational team can easily cost in the neighborhood of $750,000 to set up. The on going cost of required training, restocking, and physicals can make such a team out of reach for most communities. However, a very real haz-mat problem exists anywhere roads, railroad tracks, and industries are located.
     Several agencies in the County are currently attempting to establish a County Hazardous Materials Team. Local government and private sector financing is being sought.

The Stanly County Emergency Medical Service is responsible for pre-hospital emergency treatment and transport, inter-facility transfers to out-of-County hospitals, and convalescent transport of patients. The service operates at the Paramedic level of advanced life support. The Office of Emergency Medical Services (OEMS) in the North Carolina Department of Human Resources certifies personnel and the County as a provider. Under guidelines set out by OEMS, Stanly Regional Medical Center is this service’s required sponsor hospital and provides medical direction through an Emergency Medical Director.
     At least one Paramedic must be on the ambulance. Some of the procedures a Paramedic can perform are intubation, administration of intravenous medications, cardiac defibrillation, heart pacing, and administration of narcotics. Paramedic is the highest level of certification available for pre-hospital care. The other levels of State certification are Medical Responder, Basic Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), and EMT-I. Each level has different training requirements and capabilities. All levels must maintain approved continuing education training in order to be eligible for recertification every four years.
     The County has four bases of operation. They are located in Albemarle, Red Cross, New London and just north of Norwood. There are five manned units in service 24 hours per day, seven days per week, two at our Albemarle base and one each at our out lying bases. A shift supervisor is also on duty 24 hours, seven days a week, providing a management presence at all times and carries on numerous duties to improve the service. The Supervisor operates solo in a staff vehicle and responds to calls to assit on duty crews on a daily basis. Vehicles and crews have a specific area of operation, however units are moved to a more strategic location as other units become committed to calls in order to provide better response times County wide.
  EMS does charge patients for service and patients are not refused service because they are unable to pay. Charges vary depending on procedures performed, are updated annually and only make up a portion of the operating costs of the service. The tax base makes up the rest. Stanly County has among the lowest rates in the region. A very large portion of the Service’s patients are Medicare patients.
     The Service currently has nine ambulance vehicles and two staff vehicles. Five of the units are on the road each day and the remaining four are reserve units, one at each base and can be placed into service in conjuction with an off duty recall, in the event of a disaster or our service is inundated with calls.
     A Medical First Responder Program is a very important part of the EMS system and is provided by the fire departments throughout the County.   Personnel, mostly volunteer, are trained to at least a basic level of care and are dispatched to emergency calls to provide care to the patient until a Paramedic transport unit arrives. The lowest level of care is a County certification of First Responder. Most departments are electing to become State certified at the Medical Responder level and can provide early defibrillation using automatic defibrillators. These fire departments do not provide ambulance transportation service. Rescue and extrication operations are carried out by a growing number of organizations.

     Fire Marshal activities include fire investigation, fire inspections, pre-fire planning, plans review, fire education, and coordination and improvement of the fire service.
     There are 16 fire departments with approximately 500 personnel providing protection to the citizens of Stanly County. All are volunteer except the Albemarle department. Albemarle and Norwood are considered municipal departments. They are part of the respective municipal governments. All other departments are non-profit corporations under NC law. The departments are contracted to provide fire protection to districts established by the Board of County Commissioners. The other option available is to provide a County fire department, an option that is economically not practical.
     Over the years, departments have found it almost impossible to continue to fund a fire department on fund drives and contributions. All but one non-municipal fire district is now funded primarily through a fire tax. State statutes allow a tax district to be formed by a vote of the resident property owners of the district or by the Commissioners setting up a service district.   All but one of the tax districts was formed through a vote of the resident property owners. State statute allows a levy of up to $0.15 per $100 valuation. While the tax was approved by a vote for fire protection in a particular district, the Board of County Commissioners determines the tax rate to be levied and is responsible for the collection and distribution of the tax funds. This also means the Board retains at least some responsibility to assure these funds are used in an appropriate manner.
     The County provides two respiratory air compressors to fill self contained breathing apparatus used by fire and rescue personnel. These compressors are not ordinary compressors. They must provide air without contaminants and suitable for safe breathing at pressures up to 5000 psi. One of the compressors is a stationary compressor housed at Albemarle Central Fire Station and is approximately 20 years old. The other is mounted on a step van type vehicle and was purchased jointly by the County and the City of Albemarle. The compressor portion of the unit was replaced during the FY 97-98 budget. The County and the City share the cost of maintaining the systems.
     The Stanly County Firefighters’ Association is made up of all departments in the County. The Albemarle Professional Firefighters’ Association is the local of the International Association of Firefighters’ Association labor union. A mobile “Fire Safety House” was a result of the joint effort of these two organizations. The Fire Marshal’s office schedules the use of the unit, does most of the towing and set up of the units, and has had the primary role of educating literally thousands of children in fire safety using the units.