Fact Sheet

Whenever lives are at stake, Maryland’s volunteer squad of young citizens roars to the rescue, ready for any emergency.

–Coronet magazine, 1949

The Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad At A Glance

• Founded in 1937 as the Chevy Chase First Aid Corps, the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad has evolved into one of the nation's most advanced and best trained rescue squads.
• Serves over 94,000 households in the Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Maryland area and Upper Northwest Washington, D.C., as well as neighboring areas of Glen Echo, Cabin John, Kensington, Potomac, and Rockville.
• Responded to 11,164 calls in calendar year 2005, including injuries, heart attacks, illnesses, vehicle collisions, house fires, and many other emergencies.  For a complete list of incidents, see:   Incident Statistics - Responses Link
• Funding: Fiscal Year 2006 operating budget of $1.4 million.  Funding sources (FY 2005): contributions from the public, 73%; banquet hall rental and Christmas tree sales, 17%;  grants and bequests, 7%; memorial donations, 4%. 
• Through the use of professionally trained volunteers, saves taxpayers over $3 million in personnel costs.
• Tax status: 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization.  Contributions to BCCRS are tax-deductible as allowable by law.

Our Mission

Now in its 67th year, the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad (BCCRS) is a philanthropically operated, community supported organization that provides the highest level of fire, rescue, and ambulance service for the communities of Bethesda, Chevy Chase, and Upper Northwest Washington, D.C. BCCRS provides its services at no cost to the recipient and is dedicated to using the utmost care, professionalism, and ethics.

How We Accomplish Our Mission

BCCRS is a national leader in the recruitment, retention, and training of volunteer personnel. Using 150 professionally-trained volunteers, BCCRS staffs seven “night crews” that respond to incidents during evenings, nights, and weekends. BCCRS also employs a daytime staff who, with the assistance of a group of daytime volunteers and two Montgomery County Paramedics, staff our emergency vehicles on weekdays. This system ensures that personnel are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to respond to emergencies. BCCRS’s fleet, with a replacement cost of over $3 million, includes 7 ambulance/medic units, 2 heavy rescue squads, 1 medic chase car, 2 air support units for refilling firefighters’ breathing apparatus at fire scenes, as well as utility and command vehicles.

BCCRS does not receive regular appropriated funds from any government. Instead, BCCRS raises almost all of its $1.4 million operating budget from individual donors, foundations, businesses, and occasional state and federal grants. BCCRS is registered under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and contributions are tax-deductible as permitted by law.

Highlights Of The Last 20 Years

1990: The Rescue Squad celebrates its 50th anniversary with a visit by President George H.W. Bush, who designates the Rescue Squad as a “Point of Light” for its outstanding service to the community.

1993: The Rescue Squad’s Bicycle Emergency Response Team (BERT) begins service at special events requiring Emergency Medical Services coverage by highly mobile personnel.

1994: The Rescue Squad forms a Confined Space Rescue Team, as Squad volunteers and staff continue to hold their place at the leading edge of rescue technology.

1996: The Rescue Squad responds with multiple units to a fatal collision (with fire and passengers trapped) of an Amtrak train and a MARC commuter train in Silver Spring during a major snowstorm.

1997: Rescue Squad personnel use a first-generation thermal imaging system to make the nation’s first human “save” of a victim in a fire.

2001: The Rescue Squad is the first department from Montgomery County to send units to the scene of multiple fatalities after an aircraft hijacked by terrorists crashes into the Pentagon.

2002: The Rescue Squad responds with twelve units and 28 volunteer and career personnel–the single largest unit response from any station in Montgomery County–to an Amtrak train derailment in Kensington, Maryland, as part of a response by several Montgomery County fire/rescue departments.

2005: The Rescue Squad responds to 11,164 calls in calendar year 2005, including injuries, heart attacks, illnesses, vehicle collisions, house fires, and many other emergencies.