Durham County EMS operates ambulances 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to respond to emergencies in Durham. At full staffing, 156 field providers across 4 shifts staff up to 19 ambulances during the day and 10 at night.  3 field supervisors and the shift commander are also able to respond to calls in non-transport vehicles, typically calls of high priority or those requiring coordination of resources.

Durham County ambulances may on occasion respond to neighboring counties at their request for mutual aid.  Likewise, the shift commander may direct mutual aid ambulances from neighbor departments to calls in Durham during times of system overload.

In addition, ambulances or teams of personnel may be provided for large events by request.  These teams are often staffed by employees not on shift that day.

Durham County EMS maintains several teams for special operations:

• B-CERT: Paramedics with specialized training support The Bio-Chemical Emergency Response Team (B-CERT) for the City of Durham Police Department. This team will respond to all criminal bio-chemical emergencies within the City of Durham. This team also provides appropriate biohazard training to uniform patrol officers and establishes new protocols to deal with different levels of biohazard threats. This team is on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• Bicycle Team: this bike-mounted team can provide medical stand-by coverage for events where vehicles do not have easy access. Events can request support of the team with the Stand-By request form linked above.
• Honor Guard: currently inactive. The Honor Guard’s purpose is to honor and respect personnel, employees, public servants, and lay persons with an image of discipline and professionalism at uniformed events.
• Strike Team: DCEMS in partnership with Duke University Health System maintains an Ambulance Strike Team which can be deployed throughout North Carolina in response to disaster.
• Tactical Medicine: specially trained paramedics support high-risk law enforcement operations by providing scene commanders with medical threat assessments, delivering immediate emergency medical care, and promoting the safety and health of law enforcement personnel. DCEMS Paramedics currently support the Durham Police Department Selective Enforcement Team (SET), as well as the Durham County Sheriff’s Emergency Response Team (SERT), Search And Recovery team (SAR), and Hazardous Devices Unit (HDU or the ‘bomb squad’). These teams are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.