Our membership is made up of many who are already in the Rescue, Law Enforcement, or Health profession. Since Box 21 is not bound to a particular jurisdiction, members achieve the experience of working with many different depts. and responding to most major scenes in the surrounding communities. The majority of the equipment is maintained, refurbished, or built by the skills and resources of its own members backed by the funding of donations from the Dayton Community. All members of Box 21 are volunteers and must become Emergency Medical Technicians to actively run on calls.

Rehab Operations: Box 21’s origin was founded with a canteen service and the tradition continues today. Besides just serving refreshments to rescue personnel, Box 21 geared itself to the welfare, comfort, and rehabilitation of the rescuer on the scene. The refreshments are served with the physical demands and nutritional needs of the rescuers as a priority. Shelter from the elements of the weather and environment is appropriately provided to help maintain the rescuers’ durability while ion the scene. Unit 1909 is equipped with an onboard soda fountain, coffee make, refrigerator/freezer, range and storage space for the necessary food items to maintain a scene. This unit was just put into service in 1994 to replace the old canteen, which is still in service for backup calls. Rehab Operations endure as one of the most active and oldest continuous missions with around 100 calls per year.

Special Events Operations: Box 21 provides services for anything from a 5K run for a charity to a community gathering like Mountain Days, Dayton International Air and Trade Show, Hamvention, 4th of July Celebrations and Montgomery County Fair.

Rescue and Lighting: Assisting local fire/rescue units with whatever is needed is a mainstay of our mission..

The two rescue trucks 1901 and 1902 provide a varied scope of rescue services for fire, rescue, and law enforcement scenes. UNIT 1901 is a 75 Ford F650 chassis with a Super Vac rescue body, placed in service in 1975. It contains a 10KW generator and dual, hydraulically operated towers both equipped with a rack of six lighted that can light up a football field. This truck also is equipped with a hurst tool for extrication, air bags, fans, and a traffic directional light system mounted on the rear for diverting traffic. There is also a portable generator and various portable lights and cord for additional or interior lighting.

Unit 1902 was a military ambulance which was acquired from Canada with the assistance of St. Johns Ambulance, a volunteer rescue unit in Canada who we work with at certain events in Canada and Dayton. This is a 4WD truck which can provide additional lighting at any scenes and is especially useful for water rescue. Both of these trucks provide extended and long term scene lighting for fire, accident, crime, HNT, and Investigating scenes. The fans are used for smoke venting at fires and clearing buildings of tear gas at police scenes. This service assists in eliminating Fire and Police Department equipment being committed to those scenes for long time spans.

Medical Services: Presently Box 21 has two modular medic units (1903, 1904) that can be setup for either BLS or ALS capabilities. Unit 1905 is a mini golfcart medic which is utilized at public events and is extremely useful in large crowds. Regardless of which scene we are working at, we are always on EMS standby. These units are requested to cover a lot of events to provide medical service and transport if needed by the large crowds attending. Other departments also request the medics and crew for standby when their medics are depleted or overwhelmed with calls. A variation of events such as Air Fair, Boat Races, Hamvention, and sports events are covered with these units. We also have a motor home donated to Box 21 by Miami Valley Hospital which is used for a first aid post and patient center.

Water Rescue and Recovery: Box 21 became interested in water rescue and drowning recovery early in its history. Although the exact date is unknown, it is believed that the club’s first major piece of equipment was a boat. Many persons associate Box 21’s name with water emergencies, and with good reason, although such calls comprise a rather small percentage of the total operations of the squad, water operations are often lengthy and attract more public notice than other types of calls. The capability of our water rescue team varies from use of our one-of-a-kind rescue-deck to assist someone stranded on one of the many low head dams in the area, to making an evidence search/recovery with SCUBA for a law enforcement agency. The acquisition of a Mako breathing air compressor, air cascade system and Truck 207 for the Dive Rescue Team in 1984 has made it possible to offer more service to the community. Most of the water operations today involve the Dive Rescue Team which is made up of several highly trained divers and many trained ground personnel. This team may be able to turn a drowning recovery into a rescue, if they are called to the scene quickly. Recoveries are usually made much more quickly with the divers than is possible using the old grappling hook method. The Team is available on a regional basis to any agency needing its services. The Team is also available and trained to assist area police agencies in the recovery of automobiles, evidence, and stolen property from any body of water. As with any Box 21 service, the Dive Rescue Team is available at no cost, to anyone with a valid need.

APBA: Our water rescue team is know nationwide for it’s expertise in boat racing rescue for the American Power Boat Association (APBA). They travel throughout the Midwest for APBA Region 6 boat races as well boat races at the Dayton Hydrobowl.

K-9 Search and Rescue: Box 21 can be called to assist with anything from a missing child in the woods to a suspected victim of a drowning in the Miami River.