HUNTINGTON BEACH : City Ambulance Program Gets OK

The City Council voted last week to buy three ambulances and hire 18 employees to start a city ambulance program that will be operated by the Fire Department. Fire Chief Michael Dolder said the venture will save money and speed response times.

The program will be funded by the city’s FireMed insurance program, in which residents pay $3 a month for paramedic and ambulance service coverage for household members.

Residents who do not sign up for the insurance program will continue to pay the full cost for paramedic and ambulance services.

The FireMed program generates about $730,000 a year. The city-operated ambulance program is expected to cost $549,975. The difference, combined with other savings and sources of funding in the Fire Department, will help stave off a looming $470,000 budget cut that threatens to reduce responses by the hazardous materials team, the fire chief said.

A first-year start-up cost that includes the purchase of three ambulances and communications equipment and modifications of fire stations is estimated at $468,309.

Councilman David Sullivan said the city has no business getting into an ambulance program. It is going “the wrong way” by adding 18 employees and increasing the city’s work force by nearly 2%, he said.

“In an era of downsizing and privatization, this puts us in the direction of expanding government,” Sullivan said.

He also said that ambulance work “is a dangerous job” and that employees are prone to injuries while lifting people onto stretchers. Costs for injured workers, currently borne by a private provider, will be taken on by the city, he said.

Santa Ana and San Clemente operate municipal ambulance programs, while a number of other cities are considering getting into the business, Dolder said.

The council approved the program 5 to 2, with Sullivan and Councilman Jim Silva casting the dissenting votes.

The new program is expected to get underway in 90 to 120 days. It will replace Seals Ambulance Service, which has provided emergency ambulance service in the city since the 1960s.