County Approves 2-Year Extension for Private Ambulance Firms : Emergency services: Board of Supervisors vows to open up bidding in future to include fire departments.

The private ambulance companies serving Ventura County won a two-year extension on their contracts Tuesday, but could soon face competition from firefighters who say they can transport patients more quickly.

Even as they approved the contract extension, the County Board of Supervisors pledged to open the bidding process next time to other alternatives, including proposals from fire departments.

“I feel there is a very strong push from the public to take a good look at this issue,” Supervisor Maria VanderKolk said. “If we do that, it’s going to be a monumental decision and it’s going to take a long time.”

The two-year extension, board members said, will buy the county time to explore its options and, if necessary, make the transition to a public system.

The extension also forces Pruner Health Services Inc. to provide an ambulance in Oak Park, a community that has long complained about slow response times.

Pruner promised Oak Park an ambulance in July, but later said it would not make a commitment to the unincorporated area without a contract extension, VanderKolk said.

The board’s decision Tuesday angered Ventura city leaders, who are already exploring whether to replace Pruner with the city’s firefighters.

“They haven’t even given us a chance to see if it’s worthwhile,” Ventura City Councilman Jack Tingstrum said. “Let’s let us bid on it and see how it looks.”

In the early 1970s, Ventura County began coordinating ambulance services for all the cities. The county now has contracts with three companies: Ojai Ambulance Service for Ojai, Gold Coast Ambulance Service Inc. for Oxnard and Port Hueneme, and Pruner Health Services for the remainder of the county.

The private companies receive a subsidy from the county, totaling $238,700, but earn most of their revenues from fees charged to patients.

“There have been complaints about the charges in some cases,” said Phillipp Wessels, director of the county’s Health Care Agency. “There have been complaints about response time, mostly in the Oak Park area. Short of that, it’s been a good service.”

But Ventura firefighters lined up Tuesday morning to dispel that notion. Fire Capt. Michael Vaughan told of waiting 18 minutes for an ambulance to come for a teen-age boy who was hit by a train. Fire Capt. Paul Masiel recounted how the husband of a burn victim drove his wife to the hospital after waiting more than 15 minutes for an ambulance.

“This was rather frustrating for us and for the patient,” Masiel told the board. “From my perspective, it happens far too frequently.”

But private ambulance paramedics defended their work, saying their response times meet county standards and often average four to five minutes.

One paramedic suggested that the firefighters wanted to take over ambulance work simply “to justify their large staff and big firetrucks.”

“Like the firemen, my bottom line is patient care,” said Lynn McMillen, a paramedic with Gold Coast in Oxnard. “I feel my reputation is being tarnished by these gentlemen who are trying to make their own jobs more secure.”

The Ventura Fire Department wants to buy its own ambulances and take over transporting patients to hospitals. County firefighters have also pushed for a larger role in treating accident victims, but the county board has rejected their proposals.

On Tuesday, the board asked Wessels to return in July with a realistic schedule for when the county could begin seeking bids for new ambulance contracts. That schedule should have enough time built in for a transition to public firefighter services, if that is what the board chooses, members said.

Times staff writer Constance Sommer contributed to this story.