Virginia Beach Volunteer Rescue Squad

Specialties

The Virginia Beach Volunteer Rescue Squad is located in the city of Virginia Beach, Virginia. We are the largest of ten all-​volunteer rescue squad stations in our city. We are the largest all-​volunteer based rescue squad in the largest all-​volunteer rescue system in the nation. We have been an all-​volunteer Rescue Squad since May 1952 and have grown with our city to provide free emergency medical care since then.

Our members come from all walks of life and every corner of our region. Students, Attorneys, Hotel Clerks, Physicians, Moms/​Dads, Nurses, Postal Workers, Engineers, Fire Fighters, Police Officers, Military Personnel and many others make up our diverse «family» of members. Each person volunteers according to his or her availability. We all, however, share a common bond… helping our neighbors and citizens when they need our assistance and our professional emergency medical services. Come Join Us!

History

Established in 1952.

One cold December afternoon in 1951, a local woman was struck by a car near the corner of 24^th Street and Atlantic Avenue. Attorney J. Peter Holland III found himself at the scene and called for an ambulance. Unfortunately, the Fire Department’s ambulance was disabled and couldn’t help. With nowhere to turn, Holland called the nearby Fort Story Army installation, but the dispensary was hesitant to send help since the person injured was not in the military. Holland persisted, and nearly an hour after his initial call, an ambulance from Fort Story responded to take the woman to Virginia Beach General Hospital, just three blocks away.

Mr. Holland, thoroughly unsatisfied, rounded up some friends and discussed the urgent need for an active volunteer ambulance service in Virginia Beach. On May 1, 1952, the Princess Anne-​Virginia Beach Rescue Squad, Inc. began operations with twenty-​two charter members and one associate.