About the Office of Emergency Services

The Office of Emergency Services (OES) was created in March of 2020 with the merger of Durham County EMS and the Durham County Fire Marshal/Emergency Management teams. The merger resulted in the creation of four functional areas in OES: Business Operations, Emergency Management, Emergency Medical Services, and Fire Prevention & Life Safety. The first director of OES was Jim Groves who served in that role from March of 2020 to January 2024 when he retired. Following Jim’s retirement, former EMS Chief Paramedic Mark Lockhart was promoted to OES Director in April 2024.

Business Operations is led by the OES Operations Officer and handles most of the administrative work for OES: accounts payable/receivable, ambulance billing, budget, fleet service, human resources, and logistics. From answering phones, to tracking finances, repairing vehicles, and hiring the most wonderful people in the world, Business Operations makes it happen! Business Operations is located in OES headquarters at County Administration Building II at 201 East Main Street in downtown.

Emergency Management is led by the Chief Emergency Manager and is a dual city/county function that is housed within the county in OES. EM handles preparing and planning for, responding to, mitigating, and recovering from all types of hazards, natural and man-made. Our EM team works with both public and private partners and stakeholders to ensure that our community is prepared to respond to and resilient in recovering from major incidents such as major storms. EM is located at the Emergency Operations Center at 2422 Broad Street.

Emergency Medical Services is led by the Chief Paramedic and provides emergency medical response for all of Durham County. Our ambulance crews are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and respond to more than 58,000 calls annually. Our mobile integrated healthcare program community paramedics respond to behavioral health and overdose calls and work closely with EMS crews to connect patients in need with the appropriate resources. EMS headquarters is located at County Administration Building II at 201 East Main Street in downtown.

Fire Prevention & Life Safety is led by the Chief of Fire Marshal. They are responsible for fire and life safety in Durham County (excluding the City of Durham) including plan reviews, construction inspections, existing building inspections, fire investigations, public education, and oversight of fire department contracts with the volunteer departments in Durham County. The team also conducts semiannual inspections of Durham Public Schools and County facilities. They are located at 120 West Parrish Street in downtown.

Contact us at (919) 560-8285 and we will direct your call!

What We Do

The mission of the Office of Emergency Services (OES) is ensuring the safety and well-being of Durham County through:

• Emergency Management
• Emergency Medical Services
• Fire Prevention & Life Safety
• Business Operations 

We are responsible for emergency medical service throughout the county, fire code inspections, permitting and enforcement as well as fire investigations (excluding the City), and serve as the emergency management agency for both the City and County. 

Our vision is for OES to be a dedicated, compassionate, prepared, and respectful community-oriented team that ensures the safety and well-being of Durham County through exceptional service, collaboration and leadership.