The Umatilla Rural Fire District could hand over its ambulance service to Hermiston Fire and Emergency Services on July 1. The contract would provide Hermiston with much-needed funding and Umatilla with consistent service, according to Umatilla Fire Chief Mike Roxbury.
“We’ll be able to focus on being a fire district instead of an ambulance service that occasionally puts out fires,” Roxbury said. “We’re at the point now where something has to give.”
Umatilla Fire responded to about 700 calls in 2013, up from 300 in 2007. In the same time period, the number of volunteers has dropped from 40 to 20. Roxbury said he has only six active emergency medical technicians on his roster – and none in the pipeline – so he often calls for mutual aid from Hermiston.
“If you call for an ambulance in Umatilla, you’re going to get one, but it might be us or it might be them,” he told the Umatilla City Council on Tuesday. “This contract will guarantee 24/7, 365 paramedic level service.”
In addition to providing consistency of service, Roxbury said he expects the contract will cut response times in half. When a 911 call comes in, current volunteers must travel to the Umatilla Fire Station – often from Hermiston – in personal vehicles and load into an ambulance before turning on a siren and heading to the emergency site. Under the agreement, Hermiston EMTs will respond in an ambulance directly from a Hermiston fire station.
Umatilla residents, however, will continue to see Umatilla volunteers. Because they will not have to transport patients, Roxbury or his volunteers will be able to respond in whatever vehicle they have available – including a fire engine.
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