By Robert Connelly
Vindicator
AUSTINTOWN, Ohio — Response times are down across the township as a collaboration between the Austintown Fire Department and Lane LifeTrans continues a year after its start.
“It’s worked out better than we hoped for,” said fire Chief Andy Frost III. “It’s cut down our response time everywhere. ... Our whole township’s response times.”
Randall Pugh, vice president of Lane, said the response time in Austintown is about five minutes. There are two other ambulances that sit in Austintown, as well as the third housed at Austintown Fire Station No. 1 off state Route 46.
According to Vindicator files, the first call of the collaboration was at 8 a.m. Jan. 4, 2014. Pugh provided a breakdown of calls. The ambulance had 1,876 medical calls -- the highest in one month was 181 in August -- and had 1,402 transports.
Pugh said they were hopeful for three calls a day, which they did a little better than at about 3.6.
“Austintown has a decent call number, so putting [an ambulance] here pays for itself,” Pugh explained, noting Lane is a private entity.
With Lane being stationed at fire station No. 1, personnel have been able to assist in more than just medical situations. There was a barn fire Tuesday on Lou Ida Drive at which the Lane ambulance assisted since the call was handled by its station.
“It’s nice working with a fire department, having an extra set of hands. ... Same crew, same shift,” said Ryan Caron, a Lane paramedic.
Pugh said the Lane ambulance stationed at the Austintown firehouse had 186 lift assists in 2014 for elderly residents who had fallen. “Lift assists would have tied up other trucks versus here where we were taking care of the community,” Pugh said.
The collaboration also allowed Austintown to hire three additional firefighters for which Lane reimburses the township, Frost explained. "[We] increase our firefighters and increase our protection at no cost to our residents,” the chief said.
The fire department has three people working at a time as well as a Lane paramedic and an Austintown fire official with the ambulance. Full-time employees work 24-hour shifts, with 48 hours off between shifts, and part-time employees work eight-hour shifts.
Currently, the township fire department has 23 full-time employees, including two paramedics, and 32 part-time, including two to three paramedics.
“We’ve always worked close with Lane,” said Brandon Wirtz, an Austintown firefighter and paramedic. “It’s become a thing the community knows. They ask for the ‘big blue bus’ now, and that’s just an Austintown thing.”
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