About Us

The Summit Volunteer First Aid Squad is an all-volunteer, non-profit organization providing pre-hospital emergency care and transportation.  We render aid and assistance to over 28,000 people in Summit.

Emergency Medical Services are provided at no charge, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to all those in need.  We respond to an average of 2,000 emergency calls each year.

The Summit Volunteer First Aid Squad is considered a leader in Emergency Medical Service for surrounding communities and aids as the back-up response unit for many nearby towns throughout Union, Morris and Essex Counties. In 2011 the Squad responded to 161 mutual aid calls in the following area towns: Berkley Heights, Chatham, Milburn–Short Hills, Mountainside, and New Providence, Plainfield, Springfield and Union.

The Squad is run by officers and a Board of Trustees who are elected from among the membership.

The Squad belongs to several organizations which assist us in providing training, gaining access to the current trends and information in the EMS field and help to share information and resources with other emergency services providers. These include:

• New Jersey State First Aid Council
• National Safety Council and New Jersey State Safety Council
• Overlook Area EMS Council
• Union County Office of Emergency Management EMS Council

The First Aid Squad also has also served as a training site for programs from:

• American Red Cross
• American Heart Association
• New Jersey Dept. of Health Office of Emergency Medical Services
• National Association for Search and Rescue

2011 Statistics

In 2011 the Summit Volunteer First Aid Squad handled a total of 1,977 calls.  Of these, 1,881 were emergencies, 47 were pre-arranged transportations, 20 were as standby services at fire scenes, and 29 were to cover special events in town.   Our volunteer members logged a total of 4,759 hours on these calls putting 8,449 miles across our three ambulances and first response vehicle.

Thanks to our healthy membership, the First Aid Squad continues to provide Emergency Medical Services to the residents of Summit 24x7, every day of the year.   We are proud to boast a volunteer roster of over 70 dedicated full time members and approximately 20 junior members. 

We also provide mutual aid in the surrounding communities to assist them when they are unable to answer an emergency call, and receive such help from surrounding communities when it is necessary in Summit. In 2011 Summit was able to assist surrounding towns 161 times during the past year, yet only required the assistance of other towns on 15 occasions, none of which was a first call.