Two emergency services in Southport are merging into one department.
"Now we have a fire division and we have an EMS division, under the heading of Southport Fire Department," said Fire Chief Charles Drew.
Now operating under one roof, the chiefs of the Southport EMS and Fire Departments are glad to be working together.
"We knew it would work well, but we thought there would be a lot more bumps in the roads then there has been," said EMS Deputy Chief Tyler Johnson.
Drew says it is a win win situation for both departments. The fire station is more centrally located, moving from near the waterfront to Howe Street,
giving EMS a chance to get to emergencies faster.
"I know it's just a couple of miles, but a couple of miles makes a couple minutes difference," said Chief Johnson.
The City of Southport is saving half a million dollars, because the older EMS facility won't need as many renovations. Not everyone in the community is pleased with the merger, backlash from one citizen, has the fire chief speaking up.
In a Facebook post, a woman claims EMS has lost its identity, because the once blue trucks are now red, and says the EMS department has been changed completely, blaming it all on Fire Chief Charles Drew. In a six paragraph response, he is hoping to dispel rumors.
"I didn't want rumors to get started to start divisions and I didn't want citizens to have ambiance that there are problems going on internally that they don't know about," Drew explained.