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Overview of Fire Rescue Services in Albemarle
In Albemarle County, there are 10 fire departments and 3 rescue squads. Five of these fire departments (stations 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 and 11) provide first responder, basic life support, services for trauma and medical level calls. Additionally, at 3 of these stations (4, 6, and 8), supplemental weekday, daytime career staff provides first response at an Advance Life Support level, using advanced techniques and drugs to stabilize patients in the field. At station 11, career staff is available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Presently, the new Station 12 (Hollymead) staffs an ambulance and an engine twenty-four hours a day with paid staff. In Stony Point’s area, the new Station 12 and Charlottesville Albemarle Rescue Squad (CARS) provide pre-hospital emergency care and transport. CARS also provides highly trained technical rescue and water rescue teams. In order to provide the highest quality care for the county’s citizenry, all these organizations work in close conjunction to insure prompt response and care in emergency situations.
In addition to working together to provide medical care, the departments work together to provide mutual aid in fire emergencies. The county, as a whole, has a contractual agreement with the City of Charlottesville, to provide mutual aid to the county fire departments. So, when the station receives a call for a fire emergency, depending on the area of jurisdiction, in addition to the department’s own units, the call will also receive a unit from the city or a neighboring county station. Likewise, we also have a mutual aid agreements with other jurisdictions and occasionally work with responders from Orange and Greene County.
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