MULLICA TWP. -- The Hammonton Rescue Squad will respond to all medical emergencies in Mullica.

The township's squad ceased operations Monday.

The Hammonton squad already was responding to calls Mullica from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Hammonton now will respond on a 24-hour-a-day basis until mid-June as part of an extension of the services agreement between the two communities.

It gives us some time to see what we want to do," Mullica Township Committee member Kathy Chasey said.

The Mullica governing body was scheduled to approve the squad dissolution last night. Details were not available at press time.

The announcement from the squad caught Mullica officials off guard but, in a one-page letter squad members delivered to the committee last week, the handwriting already was on the wall.

"During the last eight years, we have done everything we said we were going to do and the township has done precious little. We built the squad from one emergency medical technician and two drivers to 11 emergency medical technicians and six first responders," the squad said in its letter.

"We have been operating for eight years out of one of the very cramped bays of the township maintenance garage. We have neither sanitary facilities nor running water. While this was originally to be temporary quarters, it has turned into permanent quarters."

Plans for constructing a facility for the squad, though discussed at various times in recent years, never were fully realized.

"There is a great interest in shared services with a nearby municipality to the point we feel it puts us in a position where we, as volunteers, are throwing good time after bad since there is no support for us," the squad's letter continued.

On Dec. 9, the township issued a statement announcing Hammonton will pick up round-the-clock calls. It has handled calls during daytime hours since 2003.

Earlier this year, merger talks with the Egg Harbor City Rescue Squad broke down. Township officials still were pondering its next step when they received word from the squad about its plans to cease operations.

"You will continue to receive uninterrupted emergency medical services and we will continue to explore all possible avenues to provide these services in the most cost-effective, efficient manner," township officials said in their statement.

Hammonton Rescue Squad Deputy Chief Mike Stork could not be reached for comment.

Originally published December 17, 2008