Our most common emergency response is to provide emergency medical services to sick or injured citizens and transport them to an appropriate hospital facility.  Medical emergencies range from the very simple, perhaps a stable sick person who just needs transportation to an emergency room to the very complex, i.e. several serious trauma patients from a multiple vehicle collision requiring extended extrication and coordination of air medical ambulances (helicopters).

Our emergency medical responders usually start their service by attending Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) school over 8 to 12 weeks where they learn to care for and stabilize patients with lower acuity injuries or illness, such as broken limbs, etc.  They are also a key player in our more serious medical calls by assisting advanced life support providers.

The next responder level is Advanced EMT, where the provider learns to handle calls of increasing complexity and difficulty, including some advanced life support functions.

Paramedics are our most advanced providers, trained and able to provide the most challenging level of medical care in the most challenging settings outside the hospital.  Training to this level can take up to two years to complete.

Outside of emergency medical services, Grayson County takes an all-hazards approach to emergency response.  While our fire services primarily act to provide fire protection, they also respond to vehicle crashes, hazardous materials incidents, wildfires, ground and water search and rescue operations, and many, many others.  

New members often start with basic firefighter training that allows them to assist on the fireground.  Additional training allows them to eventually be a safe, productive member of any response to which our agencies are dispatched.

All of our public safety personnel take an active role in providing community education for groups of all ages in areas of home and fire safety, first aid, CPR, Stop-the-Bleed, and much more.