Union continues push to keep Ephrata ambulance

Council holds pat; Grant County 5 to take over at end of week

Despite a signature-gathering drive from union firefighters, the Ephrata City Council stood firm on its decision to eliminate the city ambulance service.

Ricky Walsh, field service representative for the International Association of Firefighters, presented Council members with a petition holding 1,000 signatures collected during the last two weeks.

The firefighters also handed out flyers around the town, urging citizens to attend last night's Council meeting and speak up to save the city's fire department.

"This is a real clear representation," Walsh, who lives in Benton City and works for the Richland Fire Department, said of the signatures, "and we haven't even hit the whole town."

Two weeks ago, the Council chose not to reconsider a previous motion to let go of the city's ambulance because it was losing money. That means the fire department's 14 paramedic-firefighters will no longer have jobs at the end of the week, and the Ephrata Fire Department will essentially revert to a volunteer unit led by one paid official, Chief Jeremy Burns.

The Council has considered eliminating the city ambulance service since last November, when budget numbers showed the service losing $30,000 per month. Projections showed the city running out of money to run the service in April.

With the shutdown of the ambulance service, the state Department of Health will designate a local provider to cover emergency medical care in Ephrata.

Grant County Fire District No. 5 is expected to receive that designation. The fire district would be required to maintain an ambulance in Ephrata.

City Administrator Wes Crago said the fire department has had about 1,000 ambulance calls since November, and fire calls have comprised less than 1 percent of those calls.

To fully fund the ambulance service, Crago said Ephrata citizens would have to vote to increase their property taxes by 39 percent.

Walsh was prepared to present Council members with information about Grant County 5, and he said they should "investigate the company" the ambulance service to.

Mayor Chris Jacobson immediately called a quick five-minute recess and left the Council chambers.

When Jacobson returned, he told Walsh that he could leave information about Grant County with Council members, but that was all.

"We're not going to hear anything negative on district five," Jacobson said.

Paul Harvey, who also represents the firefighters union, said ambulance services have been subsidized by the public since the 1990s when ambulances began closing down.

The city is closing its service because of finances, Harvey said, and he predicted Grant County 5 will also run into the same problem eventually. When that happens, Harvey said the city would be in the same situation as it is now.

Grant County 5 Chief Roger Hansen said in an interview after the meeting that the district can afford to serve Ephrata because of its size. The district employs paramedics specifically to handle ambulance calls, and Hansen said that will contribute to making the service financially viable.

"We're able to run a more efficient ship than they have been," Hansen said.

Janice Moore, the president of the Ephrata Chamber of Commerce, spoke in favor of the Council's decision and criticized the lobbying of Ephratans by out-of-town firefighters.

She said she was approached by four Snohomish County firefighters who told her of the city's decision to drop the ambulance. The firefighters were surprised to hear her refer to the fire chief by his first name, which shows they don't understand Ephrata as well as its Council members.

"They cannot comprehend this tightly knit community we so dearly love," she said.