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@C_C_F_R
Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue is letting communities in the fire district know that responses to emergency incidents have dramatically increased over the past five years, and this is resulting in increased response times for critical emergencies throughout the district.
CCFR responded to 4982 emergency incidents in 2021, which is a 17.6% increase over 2020 (4239 incidents). Emergency incidents have increased by 57% since 2016, when CCFR ran 3160 incidents. Other fire/EMS agencies in Clark and Cowlitz Counties have seen increases of around 10% over the past year, which is also high by historical norms. However, the increases at CCFR are far above usual and are impacting response times. CCFR response times to high-priority emergencies has increased by 11% since 2019.
“Part of the challenge is caused by CCFR’s low staffing levels,” said Fire Chief John Nohr. “Because CCFR usually only has two personnel on each of our five emergency response units each day, we are often required to send two units to high-priority incidents to get enough personnel on scene to mitigate the problem. Response times are lengthened when we must send units from farther away to cover for units that are already on another emergency incident.”
The response time problem is further aggravated by the exceedingly long response times of the private ambulance provider (American Medical Response, or AMR) that is called to emergency medical incidents to transport patients to the Emergency Room, as CCFR units wait on an emergency scene for the ambulance to arrive.
The current ambulance contract was put in place in 2015. At the time, CCFR areas north of 179th Street were considered “low-density” and AMR was allowed 20 minutes to respond to 90% of the incidents. CCFR, Clark County Fire District 6 (Hazel Dell/Salmon Creek/Felida) and portions of Fire District 3 (Hockinson/Battle Ground) receive ambulance service from AMR through a piggy-back contract with the City of Vancouver.
CCFR has a Paramedic on response units just over 50% of the time. All other responders are Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs). Because Paramedics have more education, training, and experience than EMTs, they are able to perform more advanced life saving measures such as starting IVs (intravenous lines), giving medications, and using advanced airway management devices to support breathing.
According to Chief Nohr, “AMRs response times to CCFR on critical medical emergencies have increased by 8.9% since 2019. The number of AMR responses over 20 minutes have increased 109% during the same period. That is too long for our citizens to wait for life-saving Paramedic services.”
The elected CCFR Board of Fire Commissioners is considering an EMS levy to enhance Paramedic staffing and improve response times. If approved by voters, the CCFR Emergency Medical Services (EMS) levy would generate between $.45 and $.50 per $1000 of assessed value and would cost the owner of a $500,000 home an additional $19-21 per month ($225-$250 per year). The EMS levy would hire up to 21 personnel and provide for three firefighters on duty on each response unit each day, with at least one of the firefighters also being a Paramedic. A portion of the funds would also go toward purchasing two new ambulances and other EMS response apparatus and equipment, hiring an EMS Training Officer, and providing on-going training to the CCFR EMTs and Paramedics.
The CCFR Commissioners will hold a workshop at the next regular Board of Commissioners meeting on March 10th, 2022, at 4 PM. There will be an opportunity for citizens to provide comments during the workshop. Citizens can participate in person or virtually by Zoom. More information can be found at www.clarkfr.org.
“An EMS levy will improve unit staffing, ensure a Paramedic arrives sooner to each EMS incident, and improve response times,” says Nohr. “It will allow CCFR to provide more consistent life-saving service to our citizens in a timely manner.”
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Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue (CCFR) serves 45,000 people over 125 square miles, including cities of La Center, Ridgefield, Woodland, and the Cowlitz Indian Reservation. Our combination department includes full-time and volunteer firefighters responding to nearly 5000 fire and emergency medical calls a year. CCFR operates under a balanced budget, and has a history of passing independent financial audits by the state.