The Hoke County Rescue Squad is a totally volunteer organization.  Members receive no compensation.

The Rescue Squad and the Rescue Service, like any Public Safety service, must have personnel that are mentally, physically, and morally fit for the arduous task that it is charged with by its Charter and commitment to the people of the City of Raeford and Hoke County.

We respond to a variety of incidents and scenes that are considered shocking and appalling.  We deal with persons who have been exposed to a variety of forces both natural and man-made that often render human beings in conditions and situations that are indescribable.  Such situations are vehicle accidents, fires, machinery entrapments, farming accidents, industrial accidents, drownings, shootings, stabbings, and cardiac arrest.  We see things that no person should have to see and not only do we have to see it, we have to deal with it.  Quite bluntly when someone says "call for help", we are the "help"

We work with the other Public Safety agencies in Hoke County and sometimes beyond.  Some of those agencies are Hoke EMS-Cape Fear Valley, The Hoke County Sheriff's Office, The Raeford Police Department, The Fire Departments of Hoke County and those from out of county that have district in Hoke County or provide mutual aid, The North Carolina Forest Service, The North Carolina State Highway Patrol, and The Hoke County Emergency Management Division & Fire Marshal's Office.  We are proud of our relationships with the other agencies that serve Hoke County.

We have bylaws, SOP's, and various rules and regulations we must follow.  Our activities are governed or administered by many Local, State and Federal agencies.  We follow the National Incident Management System (NIMS).  We have an internal command structure and chain of command.  We can be in command of one type of scene and under an Incident Commander at another.  We adhere to our policies and procedures.

You will give and give and never get anything tangible in return.  You will miss moments in life.  You will be late for personal events-or not make them at all.  You will go to work tired, having been up all night.  You may be sore from lifting tools and patients.  When everyone else is planning to leave during a weather event, you will stay.  When you think things cannot possibly get any crazier, your pager will activate again.  People will be rude to you when you are trying to save a life.  You will run the gambit of emotions.  Your family will not understand your desire to participate in this organization.  YOU will not understand it at first.  One day, though, it clicks.  Even though it is inexplicable, you know why you do it.  You do get something intangible in return-the personal satisfaction of fulfilling a great responsibility that only a very few can.

If you are ready for a personal challenge, if you possess the physical traits to do oft-times back-breaking rescue work, if you possess the mental faculties to remain calm in the face of adversity, if you are willing to commit to hundreds of hours of call time and training, then the Rescue Squad is the place for you.  If you believe that serving your community by saving lives is a noble and worthwhile effort, and you want to participate in that effort as part of an organization that was founded to unselfishly provide a life-saving service to its neighbors and is steeped in a 56-year plus tradition of volunteer service to this community, then the Hoke County Rescue Squad is the place for you.

   Download an application here by clicking on this link and saving it on your computer.

We meet the second and fourth Tuesday at the Rescue Squad base at 112 Adams St. in Raeford.  

If nothing you have read has scared you off, bring your application by.  

E-mail the Commander if you have any questions.