Katherine Shaver notes that the 70 year relationship between the all-volunteer sqaud started when the squad was based in Ward 3, and continued until it was codified by Montgomery County law in 2005 and continues to this day.
The squad began with one ambulance in a Northwest garage in 1937 and continued to serve that area even after moving to Bethesda in the 1950s. A formal memorandum of understanding between the squad and the District's fire and EMS department was codified into Montgomery law in 2005.
Complaints from DC residents outside the traditional service area as well as certain Montgomery County residents do not demonstrate the understanding and cooperation between the service and its historic roots.
Indeed, the squad takes in more money by percentage from DC residents than it provides in service calls, according to the article.
Perhaps if the Tenley fire house hadn't taken years to renovate and there wasn't evidence of mismanagement and mishandling of cases on the part of DC EMS this wouldn't be an issue.
However, with the additional development and population goals slated for the Friendship Heights-Tenley corridor, if more emergency services aren't dedicated to the area, the residents of Ward 3 will depend more on the BCC Rescuse Squad.
There should probably be more interjurisidctional coorperation such as the BCC Rescue Squad provides to DC residents.
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