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Lafayette Ambulance and Rescue Squad, Inc. is a non-profit, 501(c) (3) combination volunteer / career emergency medical service located in southeastern Pennsylvania approximately 15 miles from center city Philadelphia. Lafayette provides basic life support (BLS) and advanced life support (ALS) services the Township of Upper Merion and the Borough of Bridgeport, as a primary coverage area, with a total population of over 31,000. Mutual aid services are provided on an as-needed basis to portions of ten (10) other municipalities with a combined total population of approximately 250,000 people based on year 2000 census data. The residential population of our primary coverage area is expected to grow over the next decade by approximately 5,000 to 10,000 people due to new residential and commercial developments. During business hours, Upper Merion Township is host to over 50,000 jobs, thus significantly increasing the daytime population.

Lafayette’s first due area includes a significant amount of critical infrastructure. Upper Merion Township is home to the nation’s largest shopping mall as measured in square footage, as well as the Valley Forge National Park, a major tourist destination and historical site (Upper Merion Township Community Profile, Pg. 1, March 2003). Two major U.S. interstate highways transverse our first-due territory including the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-276) , with an average daily volume of 400,000 vehicles, and the Schuylkill Expressway (I-76) with an average daily volume of 105,000 vehicles, as well as three regional highways (Routes 23, 202 and 422) with a combined average daily volume of 225,000 vehicles (Pennsylvania Department of Transportation).

Lafayette is also the primary emergency medical services provider for three bio-chemical companies, Glaxo Smith Kline, Arkema and Lonza Chemical, as well as Lockheed Martin Corporation, a US defense department contractor. Located eighteen (18) miles from Lafayette is the Excelon Limerick Generating Station, a nuclear power plant that produces over 2,400 megawatts per hour and produces enough energy for over two million households in four states. One of several evacuation routes for this generating station passes through Lafayette’s first-due area (Limerick Generating Station Fact Sheet)