BES volunteer members respond to 150-250 emergency calls each year, ranging from river rescues, drownings and ice rescues, to structure and wildland fires, to crime-scene and missing person searches. Dispatched through 911, BES responds immediately to emergency of all types. BES saves lives!
The annual report contains a special message of thanks to our dedicated members who we refer to as volunteer technical rescue professionals. It is with the exemplary commitment and steadfast dedication by the members that BES is able to fulfill its critical role of providing emergency search and rescue services to Boulder County.
BES is a remarkable group of individuals dedicating thousands of hours a year to the agencies and citizens of Boulder County. The U.S. is experiencing an unusual time when volunteerism in on the decline, especially in emergency services with the myriad of consolidations across the country. We are fortunate to have a strong volunteer ecosystem where skills and systems training results in quality services and care to those in need.
In 2018, the volunteer team responded to 90 incidents. The call that BES responded to were urgent, emergency situations where lives were saved.
BES has over 50 volunteer members and has never paid any employees. All funds go directly to operations. In 2018, BES volunteers donated approximately 7,724 hours to rescuer response, meetings, corporate tasks, training, maintenance, and other activities critical to the successful operation of the organization. The search and rescue services we provided in 2018 have helped in some ways to save lives, but most certainly to reduce pain and suffering and resolve urgent situations that would otherwise be either unresolved or have taken longer or have been more difficult. In 2018, BES volunteers responded to 90 calls for service. At an average hourly burden rate of $60 per hour, BES volunteers provided approximately $810,000 in labor cost savings to Boulder County. This figure does not include the operational expenses, insurance, and other costs associated with managing the emergency services business.
At BES we believe that self-initiative, proactive team spirit, positive and transparent attitude, and pride in our work set BES members apart as unique and special among many other emergency organizations
I continue to be so very proud of the volunteers who train as much or more as paid teams and provide professional emergency rescue services as a huge community service to the people of Boulder County.
Respectfully,
Andrew M. Amalfitano
President and Chief of Operations
The volunteer rescue professionals of B.E.S. will deliver safe, high-quality, and timely emergency services to the people of Boulder County by:
• Enhancing the well-being of our members
• Conducting priority training that improves our skills and capabilities,
• Establishing agency relationships that promote an optimized response protocol, and
• Preparing our vehicles and equipment to be in a state of readiness at all times.
Bill Hughes, the founder of the Boulder Emergency Squad, recalled hearing an accident call on the radio where a teenage girl was trapped in a vehicle after a head-on collision. The only available "rescue" vehicles were the local tow truck and mortuary ambulance. This incident ended with two tow trucks pulling in opposite directions to free the two vehicles of the collision. Appalled by this incident, Bill and a small band of CB radio enthusiasts formed the 11- Meter Club. A year later, the rescue squad was in its infancy as the 11-Meter Rescue Squad.
By 1965 BES convinced the First National Bank to lend the Squad the funds to purchase a Ford van to carry their donated equipment. Members would "put a hat in the middle of the floor and accept change from people's pockets" in order to keep the vehicle running for the next week. In 1966, the 11-meter Rescue Squad became Boulder Emergency Squad and the First National Bank of Boulder offered land at Walnut and Broadway to be used for a headquarters and the Boulder Emergency Squad was incorporated. Years later, the squad negotiated a lease with the City of Boulder for land at 5048 E. Pearl St., near the city yards. The members constructed the entire building themselves, except for pouring the concrete.
In the early 1960's, BES members were deputized by the City of Boulder police department and the county sheriff in order to assist with the riots on University Hill. Between 1968 and 1972, riot suppression, raids, and stakeouts were a significant part of the squad's activities, although rescue has always been its main mission. As late as the mid 1970's BES still regularly performed rescue within the City of Boulder. With the modernization of the Boulder Fire Department, BES took on a back-up role and soon after, the cities of Louisville and Lafayette began to modernize and followed suit. BES continues to provide primary rescue services for many of the mountain volunteer fire departments in the County. BES responds on a request basis to several other fire departments, police departments, and the Sheriff.
In 1998, the Squad convinced the County Commissioners to allow a sales tax initiative to be placed on the County ballot to raise funds for BES. After much campaigning by the volunteers the measure passed and BES and LEU (another Search and Rescue organization) received an estimated 4 million dollars to be used to secure property, buildings and capital equipment. Today that same measure continues as the "Worthy Cause" initiative, providing funds for other non-profits such as the Women's Shelter and the Humane Society.
In May of 2003, BES moved into its new headquarters at 3532 Diagonal Highway and purchased three large rescue vehicles and some much-needed equipment. There, they also host another search and rescue group, Front Range Rescue Dogs, as well as sharing the training and conference rooms with other fire, rescue and law enforcement groups.
BES has hosted national water rescue training series, participated in multi-agency county disaster drills and has provided countless trainings to local agencies and continues to be a leader in professional rescue training in the area. BES has also created and run public education programs like "Survive the Drive," a presentation given to local area high schools before their prom events. And BES has participated in many calls that received national attention, from swiftwater rescues and wildland fires to missing persons and evidence searches and has been portrayed in reality TV episodes of Rescue 911 and the British based Rescue 999.
Organization name
Boulder Emergency Squad
other names
BES
1963
Tax id (EIN)
84-6059143
Category
Public Safety, Disaster Preparedness & Relief
Organization Size
Medium Organization
Address
3532 Diagonal HwyMailing
P.O. Box 18887Boulder County, CO, US