By Marc Benjamin
The Fresno Bee (California)
Copyright 2006 McClatchy Newspapers, Inc.
There seemed to be no clear path for Fresno County Fire Protection District board members to follow in changing a policy for medical-aid calls that the city of Clovis answers in their place.
Clovis and the district will begin charging each other $950 for each medical call after July 1. The city has never charged before, and the city answers far more calls than the county.
District board members will work on the new policy Wednesday during their 5 p.m. meeting at Sunnyside Health & Tennis Club. The district’s policy is a plan about when to send Clovis firefighters — the fastest-arriving agency in the Tarpey area — to medical-aid calls.
About 70 Tarpey Village residents met with fire district officials Monday night in the Miramonte Elementary School cafeteria to learn more about how the fire district plans to cover medical-aid calls.
The only thing that was clear is that the level of service probably won’t be quite the same, said Bob Levinson, Tarpey Neighborhood Association president.
“Any time there is a change, there is a drop in services,” he said.
Residents were concerned they would be billed directly for such calls. The district would pay the fee.
“You folks have been getting an enhanced service for a long time,” said Amy Knight, district chairwoman. “County taxes cannot support city services.”
She suggested another meeting to discuss the policy change because it was not clear how residents wanted the issue handled.
After the meeting, Michael Delpuppo, a fire district board member, said: “We are hoping to keep calls [to Clovis] down to a minimum.”
At $950 and about 110 calls in Tarpey — a total of 200 calls in county areas within a mile of Clovis — the cost to the district would be nearly $200,000 if Clovis firefighters were to answer every call.
Monday night was the first time the district addressed the medical call fee with Tarpey residents, some of whom were upset they had not been advised earlier.
“It would have been a wonderful thing to have Tarpey residents at the table,” said resident Martha Magnia. “It’s horrible to be left out and then be told this is what happened and this is the way it’s going to be.”
Others said they distrusted Clovis officials, especially after the city approved two hotels and an office complex east of Tarpey and a large apartment complex north of Tarpey, a community mostly made up of single-family homes.
But Levinson said Monday’s discussion was good for the neighborhood.
“It gets everything out, and now we are having a discussion about it,” he said.
Clovis firefighters have the nearest station and can reach the Tarpey area within five minutes 90% of the time. The fire district’s nearest engine needs five to nine minutes to get to Tarpey. American Ambulance also goes to medical calls and arrives in an average of five minutes and 44 seconds so far this year.
“We are going to be responding regardless,” said Todd Valeri, American Ambulance general manager.