The mission of the Blacksburg Volunteer Rescue Squad is to provide professional and responsive emergency medical and technical rescue services that enable residents and visitors to enjoy a high quality of life within a planned diverse community. The Rescue Squad has been providing emergency medical and technical rescue services to the Town of Blacksburg and a large portion of Montgomery County since 1950. The Blacksburg Volunteer Rescue Squad is a 100% volunteer organization and a Virginia nonprofit organization separate from the Town, yet services and coordination with the Town are seamless. Not only does the Rescue Squad respond to emergency calls in Town and on the Virginia Tech campus, but it also responds regionally to provide unique resources and capabilities when requested by other agencies and the Virginia Department of Emergency Management. Blacksburg Volunteer Rescue Squad also conducts community outreach in the form of educational demonstrations at local schools and provides support to community events such as local sporting events, town festivals, celebrations, and Virginia Tech football games. The Rescue Squad maintains state-of- the-art rescue equipment that includes advanced life support ambulances, first response vehicles, specialty technical rescue vehicles, technical rescue trailers to facilitate full spectrum special operations. As the sole entity tasked with all aspects of technical rescue, the Rescue Squad has established a Special Operations Division that specializes in technical rescue operations such as high angle, confined space, trench, emergency police operations, vehicle extrication, swift water, dive, basic structure collapse, wilderness search and rescue, and cave rescue operations. The Rescue Squad consistently meets or exceeds the nationally accepted standards for response times, membership certification, and professional conduct.