Our People

Our people are quite simply the most valuable thing on earth to us; please click here to see who our dedicated members are.

Our Apparatus

Our current ambulance is a Type III ambulance comprised of a 2004 International medium-duty chassis complimented by a Wheeled Coach patient care compartment. It is equipped to provide basic emergency medical life support to the residents of Arlington County and the City of Falls Church. Normal staffing for this unit is two volunteer EMT-Basics, including a driver and an Attendant-in-Charge (also called a Basic Life Support Provider), and often a Candidate in training to become a certified Basic Life Support Provider.

The above ambulance replaced a 1988 Ford Type I chassis with a Horton body, which the Rescue Squad acquired from Prince William County's Occoquan-Woodbridge-Lorton (OWL) Volunteer Fire Department in 1995. This unit, affectionately called "Ol` Yeller" because of its coloring, served the Rescue Squad faithfully for close to 10 years until being replaced in early 2005.

Our History

Over 15 years ago, then-Arlington County Fire Chief Ed Plaugher asked a group of volunteer fire fighters to put together a plan for a Basic Life Support ambulance in Arlington. Due to the high call volume in the area, the Arlington County Fire Department (ACFD) was routinely running out of medic units, and Chief Plaugher saw the value in augmenting the county's EMS capability with volunteers.

After several years of initial work by volunteers Karen Warkentein and Reade Bush, the Arlington-Falls Church Volunteer Rescue Squad was formed to include members from all seven Arlington County Firemen's Association (now Arlington County Fire & Rescue Association) companies. The idea was to pool resources from all of the Arlington volunteer companies to help give the Rescue Squad the best chance for success. The Rescue Squad purchased a used ambulance from the Occoquan–Woodbridge–Lorton (OWL) Volunteer Fire Department in Prince William County. This first unit was a 1988 Horton ambulance on a Ford F-350 chassis, and coincidentally was originally designed by ACFD Captain Dave Hehr, who still works closely with the Rescue Squad. The Rescue Squad borrowed $25,000 from the Arlington County Firemen's Association to purchase the ambulance; as a gift of goodwill, the loan was later excused by the Association.

In 1995 that core group of volunteers led by Karen Warkentien and Reade Bush placed Ambulance 101 in service for the first time. On its inaugural shift serving the citizens of Arlington, Ambulance 101 ran 17 calls in 12 hours, including two cardiac arrests and a fatal house fire. The Squad made it through its early years because of a dedicated group of volunteers including Lance Larson, Jay Gremillion, Clay Hamric, Pat Evinger, Mindy Secrest, James Fortner, and Jim Clarke.

The Rescue Squad made its home at Arlington's Station 1 on South Glebe Road until 2003 when we were moved to Station 2 in Ballston. Today, the ambulance runs as Ambulance 102 in the warmer months, and moves to the Falls Church station and runs as Ambulance 106 from November through mid-March.

The Rescue Squad also played a role in the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001, going in service immediately after the Pentagon was involved and remaining in service throughout the county for several days. While returning from a smoke inhalation call at Pentagon City aboard Ambulance 101, Volunteer Lieutentant Jay Gremillion of Company 1 was moved by the sight of a small American flag "perched high above the ruins and devastation" of the Pentagon. "Clearly, one of the early tasks of the response teams was to make sure that the flag was flying – and sending the message that our resolve was strong," Gremillion said. "The small flag was later removed and a large four-story American flag was unfurled to coincide with President Bush's visit. Still, the sight of that small flag on top of the building and near the impact point is the more poignant symbol in my mind of what we did and the mood of the rescuers – and indeed the country."