The Storm Ambulance & Rescue Corps is a non-profit group that provides emergency medical services, technical rescue, hazardous materials and water rescue to the City of Derby, and to a lesser extent to the rest of the Lower Naugatuck Valley. It also provides community training to the residents of Derby and the Lower Naugatuck Valley in CPR/First Aid and safety related topics. They have existed since 1948.

The Corps was formed when Assistant Fire Chief Edward Cotter Jr. suggested that there was a need to improve emergency medical services in Derby. Assistant Chief Cotter was joined by Richard Kiley, as a co-chairman of the ambulance corps. The co-chairmen got a handshake approval to provide ambulance service to Derby at a Board of Aldermen meeting. Although there were no funds available to purchase an ambulance, the newly formed committee raised the money needed.

They purchased a Buick Superior Ambulance (pictured above) for the sum of $7,000, and the corps officially went into service the same night of the purchase, December 12, 1948.

In 1952, because of the great increase of traffic and motor vehicle accidents in Derby, and the large industrial base of factories, the ambulance corps determined that there was a need for another vehicle to carry rescue equipment needed at motor vehicle and industrial accidents. A jeep was purchased and it became the predecessor of today’s large rescue vehicles. In 1955 a rescue boat was added to the fleet of vehicles and soon after it was the only one of its kind in service in the Valley.

During the 1955 floods this boat was used to rescue numerous residents of Derby and Ansonia. The Corps now also has in addition to water rescue capabilities, ice rescue and swift water rescue trained personnel.

Over the years the Storms have been a pioneer in delivering emergency medical care and rescue services in the Valley. The volunteers of the Corps were the first to have two way radio contact with Griffin Hospital and the first in the Valley to have certified Emergency Medical Technicians.

There have been many other memorable firsts for the ambulance corps as well. They were the first to use HARE traction splints for fractured legs; the first to use defibrillators; the first to use Military Anti Shock Trousers and were the first to utilize air bags for lifting objects which were trapping persons. They were also the first advanced life support technicians in the Valley, responding throughout the Valley delivering advanced life support. The Storms also arranged the first Prom Promise program in the Valley and their collaboration with Telemedia Cable won a national award for public service broadcasting.

The ambulance corps was a leader in shaping the EMS system in the region by being represented on the ad-hock committee that formed the South Central Emergency Medical Services Council. The corps also joined the C-MED radio system the day it went into operation, making it possible for the first time to have direct communications between the doctors at the hospital and the EMT’s in the field delivering advanced care.

In addition to emergency medical care the ambulance corps has also been a leader in rescue technology. The Storm Ambulance Corps was the first in New England and the third in the nation to purchase the Hurst “Jaws of Life” rescue tool. Twenty minutes after being placed in service, the tool was used in Ansonia to remove a trapped driver. The ambulance corps also features a rope rescue team available for rescue from heights and slope rescues.

In 1993 the corps placed on line a Special Hazards Unit which again fills a unique need. The members identified responding to hazardous materials calls and persons trapped in confined spaces as potentially serious and deadly situations to both victims and responders. A fund drive was established and training was begun to enable the volunteers to handle these situations. Through an independent grant from the New Haven Foundation, a vehicle was purchased (Haz-Mat 19) and the all volunteer Haz-Mat response team was formed to deal with Haz-Mat and confined space rescue situations. The ambulance corps has trained its members extensively in response to WMD incidents and has now trained 10 Haz-Mat Techs in Anniston, Alabama at the Army’s WMD training facility where they actually train handling live Bio and Chemical weapons as well and radiological weapons and explosives. This team is the lead of the Valley division along with the Derby Fire Department for the New Haven Area Special Hazards Team (NHASH), one of 5 specialized regional teams in the New Haven Area.

The group is always looking to the future to provide the cutting edge of technology for the people it serves. It operates with 42 Medical Technicians, a number of which are also firefighters, technical rescue, water rescue and Haz-Mat trained. This means that the volunteers spend great numbers of hours training and keeping certified, as well as responding 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

In 2004 the Storms trained the first Tactical Medics in the Valley. The training was given by Rescue Training of Savannah, Ga. Four EMT’s were trained to respond with the Derby police tactical teams as a member of the team. Research has found that any tactical team can effectively improve the chances of survival for a member of a tactical team if advanced care is administered as soon as it is safe to do so. Additionally, if there are situations involving hostages or prolonged responses where tactical team members may need care in the field it can be administered by one of these EMT’s allowing the tactical team to function at full strength by not having a team member stop to treat an injured comrade. Having medical personnel with a team that is in a high risk environment just makes sense. Additional classes were held last year and four more members were trained and certified.

In conjunction with that, the Storms personnel also worked with search and rescue dogs during the training. The function of the animals is to find victims trapped in rubble after a major event. Two of the animals Storms trained are part of Alpha Response, a Canadian Rescue Training company, which worked in recent national disasters including the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. After watching how the dogs worked, Asst. Chief Dave Lenart talked to the Wal-Mart manager in Derby. The manager had recently relocated here from New Orleans and was very familiar with the dogs capabilities. Dave got a dog from a New Jersey basic training agency, obtained funding to train and equip the dog and arranged for donated veterinary care through Seymour Veterinary Hospital. Additionally Griffin Hospital signed on as a sponsor to the canine program. The dog has met the National standards for canine search and rescue and is so certified, and he has had many successful searches since that time.

In September of 2007, 10 medical technicians attended and trained with Alpha Response learning to treat canines for a variety of illnesses and injuries.

In 1998 the Storm Ambulance Corps was recognized as the Valley United Way “Volunteer Organization of the Year” donating almost 4,000 volunteer hours to the City of Derby and its residents.