Posts Tagged Mattoon Fire District

Mattoon Fire District news (more)

Excerpts from jg-tc.com:

The Mattoon City Council ratified new regulations for private ambulance services and heard several concerns regarding the scheduled July 25 end of the fire department’s ambulance service.

Top fire department officials questioned whether the city is ready to switch over all ambulance calls to private services. Representatives from one of the two current private services, Dunn’s Ambulance, said they will be ready but delays for this switch have made it difficult to hire crews. A representative for a possible third service, Abbott EMS, sought more information about the application process.

The city has revised its regulations in preparation for the July 25 switch. The new regulations include the requirement that ambulances must arrive at the scene of advanced life support calls within eight minutes of being dispatched. Ambulance services must report this data to the city.

Fire Chief Tony Nichols said he is concerned about the city entering uncharted territory if it completely eliminates the fire department’s ambulance service on July 25. He urged the council to keep the department’s advance life support equipment ready as a backup to help handle the call volume.

Assistant Fire Chief Sean Junge said feels that firefighters, as stakeholders in the emergency response system, were given little opportunity to provide input on the new ambulance regulations while private services had a lot of input. Junge said he cannot recommend approval for the new regulations due to his concerns about this document.

The council voted on July 18, 2017 to eliminate the fire department’s ambulance service. City officials have said that this service loses money and duplicates the work of private providers. Mattoon Firefighters Local 691 has countered that the department’s service generates needed revenue for the city and provides essential ambulance coverage for Mattoon.

Casey Schmitz, operations manager for Dunn’s, said the city has asked private services to be ready to handle all of the ambulance calls, but uncertainty about when this change will take place has made it difficult to hire crews. Nevertheless, she said both Dunn’s and Mitchell-Jerdan Ambulance Service plan to have additional crew members and ambulances in place to continue serving the community.”We are not going to leave anybody high and dry,” Schmitz said. She added that Dunn’s welcomes partnering with firefighter crews that have basic and advanced life support equipment. She said this backup service was standard practice before the fire department’s started its own ambulance service several years ago.

Brian Gerth, operations manager for Abbott EMS, asked several questions about how the Coles County 911 system rotates calls to the different ambulance services and about the application process to become a provider under the city’s new regulations. City officials advised that applicants do not need to have an office in Mattoon when they apply but will need to have one before they operate ambulances in Mattoon.

Bart Owen, president of the firefighters union, urged the city to keep the fire department’s advanced life support capabilities in place as a backup. He also questioned whether the city has a plan in place for backup service and how it will have time to process ambulance service applications from current and possible new providers before July 25.

The city and the firefighters union are continuing to try to negotiate a new contract, and they met with a mediator on Tuesday. The current contract expired on April 30 but remains in effect until a new one is reached. Staffing levels have been a contentious issue in the contract negotiations due to the possibility of the number of firefighters being cut further due to the ambulance service elimination.

Owen said there are now eight legal proceedings regarding various related grievances and court filings that will need some type of resolution before the arbitration process can be completed. He said the union has offered to make concessions, including cuts of three staff members and other measures that would save $663,000 per year.

thanks Dennis

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Mattoon Fire Department news (more)

Excerpts from wandtv.com:

As the end date approaches for the Mattoon Fire Department’s ambulance service, Mitchell-Jerdan Ambulance Service and Dunn’s Ambulance are getting ready to expand their fleet and staffs.

The fire department ambulance service is set to end July 25. The firefighters’ union is pushing to keep the fire department’s advanced life support capabilities as a backup for the two private ambulance providers. 

On July 18, the Mattoon City Council voted to get rid of the fire department’s ambulance service to save money.

Mitchell-Jerdan Ambulance Service is looking to increase its fleet from three to four ambulances, add more staff, and to make upgrades. Dunn’s has two ambulances in Mattoon and will add a third before July 25. Dunn’s also plans to hire more ambulance crews in Mattoon.

City officials in Mattoon said the fire department’s ambulance service duplicates the work of the private providers. The city filed a lawsuit against the union in May. Mattoon officials said the city is coming up with updated regulations for private ambulance services.

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Mattoon Fire Department news

Excerpts from wandtv.com:

Mattoon Fire Chief Anthony Nichols says July 25 will be the last day Mattoon firefighters will operate ambulances. The Mattoon Firefighters Association has been involved in a legal battle with city leaders since July 2017, when the city council voted to end city-run ambulance services.

The city administrator has argued the city is losing about $600,000 a year through fire department-operated ambulances. With the change, two private companies will be operating Mattoon ambulances. They were previously sharing those duties with firefighters in a three-week rotation system.

Nichols says he expects an ordinance to regulate those private companies to be heard at the next Mattoon city council meeting, which is scheduled for July 3. He issued an email on Thursday to thank Mattoon firefighters for their work with the ambulance service.

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Where are they now …

This from Martin Nowak: more X-Illinois fire trucks in Indiana

1976 Sutphen Pumper; purchased from Bourbonnais IL in 1990 by the Shirley Vol FD

1983 PemFab/E-one 95ft Aerial Ladder was purchased by Cambridge City Vol FD in 2002 from Gurnee, IL

Pump 101 2000 HME/Smeal; was purchased by Poe FD from Coal City IL. All rigs at Poe carry the orange color that Coal City carries

Truck 23; 1972 American LaFrance Aero Chief 90′ Snorkel served Mattoon, IL, then St. John, IN, and now Shelby Vol FD

Engine 5812; 1975 Mack CF685 pumper served Winfield FPD IL before the Lake Dalecarlia Vol FD

Rescue 862; 1994 Freightliner FL60/Wheeled Coach was a former Evanston Ambulance that was purchased in 2004 by Kingsbury Volunteer FD

East Chicago has two of the six units that were ordered by the City of Chicago in 2001 ( 2001 American LaFrance Eagle/3D Pumpers) They serve as Engine-1 and Engine-4 Only one stayed in Chicago as E-23. The other three were repainted and went to Baltimore County, Maryland where they served as Engine-2, Engine-4, and Engine-6.

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