About Us

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The Ashe County Rescue Squad is a nonprofit 501 (c)3 corporation and we are volunteers. We have been providing rescue service for all of Ashe County since 1962.

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We are certified Heavy Rescue thru the NC Association of Rescue and EMS, which is the agency that North Carolina recognizes to set the requirements for rescue squads including equipment and training.

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In addition to Heavy Rescue, we are certified in the following disciplines:

Agriculture Rescue

High Angle Rescue

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We are trained and have equipment, but not yet certified in:

Water recovery and water rescue

Wilderness search

Structure collapse

Trench cave in

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In order to obtain our rescue certifications, the squad is required  to have at least 8 Rescue Technicians certified by NC Office of State Fire Marshall in each discipline that we have. There is an extensive list of equipment that compliments each discipline. It takes a minimum of 120 hours of training to obtain the core Rescue Technician certification and have at least one Specialty Rescue Discipline. Each specialty discipline is a minimum of 36 hours. 

In short, it takes at least 156 hours of instruction to be certified and all this is completed on nights and on weekends.

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In addition, we have 2 ambulances certified by NC Office of Emergency Medical Service. Each Squad member is required by us to be at least an OEMS credentialed Medical Responder, which is 110 hours or initial training and an additional 24 hours of training annually.