Mission and History

The South Orange Rescue Squad (SORS) was formed in 1971 – before we even had 911 – by local firefighters because there was no emergency medical transport service serving our community.

Volunteer rescue services in Orange County were first established in 1968 with the creation of the Orange County Rescue Squad, which operated out of a station on South Churton Street in Hillsborough. A second service, South Orange Rescue Squad (SORS), was established in 1971 and based in Carrboro. In 1974, SORS built a stand-alone station on Roberson Street in Carrboro. The two squads worked alongside County employees from Orange County Emergency Management (OCEM) to serve the entire county.

These volunteer first responders created the model that SORS follows today. They trained and staffed ambulances serving the community – including the University of North Carolina campus and North Carolina Memorial Hospital (now UNC Health Care) – and handled vehicle extraction and confined-space, high-angle, and swiftwater rescues.

In 1999, OCEM (now Orange County Emergency Services) established an innovative change in emergency medical services delivery by implementing an Initial Response Vehicle (IRV) system, which dispatched paramedics in rapid response cars to every medical call. 

That same year, South Orange Rescue Squad and Orange County Rescue Squad merged into one agency, Orange EMS & Rescue Squad. Over the years both rescue squads had begun paying part-time employees to staff ambulances during daytime hours Monday through Friday with volunteers providing night and weekend staffing. In 2003, Orange County began transitioning paid OEMSRS members to county employees.

In June 2004, SORS was relaunched by dedicated community volunteers to respond to the community’s needs. They re-established a strong student and community volunteer service to promote education and deliver technical rescue and emergency medical services. 

The organization earned tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service in January 2005 and in July of that year began staffing an ambulance from a UNC Chapel Hill provided apartment on Hibbard Drive across from the UNC Hospital Emergency Department. The additional station shortened response times to calls on the UNC campus and nearby neighborhoods.

In 2021, we celebrated our 50th anniversary, and in 2023 were named the Nonprofit of the Year by the Chamber for a Greater Chapel Hill-Carrboro.