Utah Community Starts 24/7 Ambulance Coverage
July 11--FARMINGTON -- Farmington residents are now receiving 24-hour, seven-daysweek ambulance service from the fire department.
The move to staff the fire station with two emergency medical technician/firefighters during the graveyard shift began July 1, Farmington Fire Chief Guido Smith said.
The city council approved a $92,000 increase to the fire department's budget to add the two personnel from midnight to 8 a.m.
"This was done without an increase to property tax," Smith said.
Smith said he did a survey and discovered most residents believed the fire station was already staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The plan to add the two firefighters on the graveyard shift had been in place for the past several years, but the cost was "something we had to overcome," said Farmington Mayor Scott Harbertson.
That happened this year when the city's general fund balance was the highest it has ever been.
Harbertson said the city has never received a complaint from residents concerning the response time. In the past when firefighters, such as Chad Higley and Jed Done, responded in the middle of the night to an emergency call, there was a lag time of two to five minutes depending on how far away the firefighters live.
Now, the response time from the call to the station to the ambulance heading out will be 90 seconds, Smith said.
Farmington Fire Capt. Rick Wesche said that when he used to get paged in the middle of the night, his wife would get up with him.
"She would lock up behind me as I went out the door," Wesche said.
Done said, because he has young children, when he got paged in the middle of the night, he tried to be quiet as he headed out the door, but it didn't always work.
"When I get home, my wife and two daughters are up and awake," said Done, who works full time at an Intermountain Healthcare hospital as an emergency room technician.
All 28 firefighters with Farmington Fire Department are part time, Smith said. They all have full-time positions with other careers.
The city spent about $500,000 last year to remodel the fire station, which had been used by the police department and the fire department. The police department moved to a different building, and the fire department took over the building.
The remodel added four dorm rooms, plus a kitchen/ TV room, so firefighters can spend the night.
The fire department hopes that within five years it can add two more firefighters to the graveyard shift, Smith said. By adding two more firefighters, the department will be able to respond to a fire in the middle of the night much more quickly.
"When that happens, it will be awesome," Higley said.
