Only a handful of departments in eastern North Carolina have it. Now, Washington Fire-Rescue-EMS numbers among them.

This week, Washington Fire-Rescue-EMS was awarded its heavy rescue certification by the North Carolina Association of Rescue and Emergency Medical Services. It’s a goal the department has been working toward since a grant came through that allowed the department to purchase a rescue truck.

For the past three years, Fire-Rescue-EMS personnel have worked their way up from light rescue to heavy rescue, buying the required equipment for the truck and backing that up with training for how to use it effectively. They’ve gone through heavy rescue, high-angle rescue, water rescue and agricultural rescue training, training for the gamut of situations in which a person could need rescue. With the recent addition of the last remaining pieces of equipment on the checklist of required equipment, the squad achieved certification.

“What this represents is significant effort and training and equipment (needed) to be prepared for a rescue situation that would require the equipment on the truck — there are so many things that could happened and so many pieces you would need,” said Fire Chief Robbie Rose. “The truck is a key component. What that does is let us put the bulk of the equipment on that. You’ve kind of got a big tool box that’s going to roll up on the scene for you.”

Washington Fire-Rescue-EMS Auxiliary was instrumental in taking the department over the last hurdle to heavy rescue certification: the auxiliary unit helped purchase a larger sized lift bag — an inflatable bag made out of rubber, used to lift structural or other large objects in the course of a rescue. Rose also credited Beaufort County Community College with its ongoing support, providing the necessary the training to get personnel on par with the heavy rescue denomination.

Rose said the department will continue its training despite having reached the end goal set three years ago.

“I think this goes right back to the dedication of all the people we have down here and the slogan we have on our truck: ‘Dedicated to serve, Trained to save.’” Rose said. “It’s the dedication of all the department to make this a safer place to live in and have a greater ability to respond when things do happen.”