Every second counts in a life-threatening emergency and a gift from a local company to the Mount Airy Rescue Squad will cut response times, especially to off-road locations involving all-terrain-vehicle access.
Eagle Carports has donated one of its enclosed metal buildings to the squad, a two-bay/three-door structure that has expanded storage capabilities at the rescue organization’s headquarters on Frederick Street.
Squad Chief Nathan Webb said it is housing some of the equipment the lifesaving unit relies on, perhaps most importantly its ATV and a trailer used to haul the off-road vehicle to various locations on emergency calls.
Where the new building comes in handy is streamlining the logistics required by moving or unloading the ATV when needed for certain situations when time is of the essence.
The ATV typically is loaded onto the back of the trailer should it have to be hauled to a remote area in the squad’s coverage territory, which includes Mount Airy and surrounding communities. That can include rural sections where emergency crews use the ATV to access farming or hunting accidents, or even those involving other off-road vehicles, Webb explained.
But in the past — pre-new building — the storage and egress-access limitations of the squad required a time-consuming step when the ATV was needed to respond to calls on the city’s greenway system where it is directly driven. It meant having to back out the trailer the ATV normally is on and then unload the ATV.
With the new building, it can be driven straight off the trailer through its own back door and rushed to the scene.
“It’ll make it easier to…get going as quick as we can to an emergency,” Webb said of the reduced response time realized for in-city areas where access has been a concern.
“We get a lot of calls on the greenway.”
Eagle Carports General Manager Gabriel Torres Jr. says the contribution to the Mount Airy Rescue Squad reflects an ongoing mission of the company located at Holly Springs.
“We like to help the community, especially those that volunteer to help the community,” Torres said Friday afternoon at the squad headquarters. Eagle Carports, which has 120 full-time employees and about the same number of contractors who install its buildings, previously provided a shelter for a local drug dog.
It also will be making a picnic shelter donation for a new restroom/picnic area on the Emily B. Taylor Greenway behind Roses.
The building given to the Mount Airy Rescue Squad has dimensions of 26 feet by 24 feet by 12 feet and sells for around $7,000.
Webb said such an acquisition would not have been possible for the squad through its normal budgetary channels. It has 30 members who respond to about 2,500 calls a year, averaging roughly six per day.
Eagle Carports employee Van Combs said that though immobile, the storage building will have a wide reach from its new spot on the grounds of the 56-year-old rescue squad under the proudful gazes of members.
“It’s good for them and it’s good for the community,” Combs said.
