Montgomery Advertiser
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — When an emergency erupts anywhere in Autauga County, the City of Prattville Fire Department dispatches ambulances to the site of the 911 call, regardless of the incident’s distance from the city’s three fire stations. But with limited vehicles and personnel to handle both county and city emergencies, the current setup has been far from ideal, Prattville fire officials say.
In the coming weeks, that situation is set to change significantly as two private ambulance companies will bid to take over EMS response to emergencies that occur in Autauga County that are outside the Prattville city limits. This change could cut ambulance response time in half for county residents who live outside the city, officials say.
Haynes Ambulance of Alabama and Care Ambulance, both based in Montgomery, are set to present their bids for the contract to the Autauga County Commission by Dec. 8. The Autauga County Commission, which has until now contracted the Prattville Fire Department to serve the entire county, opened the bidding earlier this month.
“We gave them 30-plus days to send their proposals to us. They’re due back with their proposals to us on Dec. 8,” said Autauga County Administrator Steve Golsan. “At that time, we’ll schedule some meetings to come in and present us with, ‘here’s what we can do,’ and what it would cost us.”
Prattville Battalion Fire Chief Allen Owens said the new setup will help not only county residents living outside Prattville, but also the Prattville Fire Department, which has just six ambulances available at any time to respond to emergencies in the city and county. The ambulance company to be chosen by the commission will establish one or more remote stations in the county. leading to a tremendous decrease in ambulance response time for people in the outlying county, and an increase in local ambulances and staff able to respond to emergencies within Prattville.
“For the response time from the city to Jones, which is our farthest point, you’re looking at close to 30- to 35-minute response time out there,” Owens said. “With these ambulance companies stationed out in the county, it’s going to cut that time in half or even better. It’s going to benefit the citizens out there.”
This change comes in the wake of an escalating problem as well as a long research process, said Autauga County Commission Chairman Carl Johnson.
“Because we represent the citizens of Autauga county, we were in a situation where we had to make a change. We couldn’t afford what we were going to have to do if we stayed where we were,” he said, acknowledging the work of Autauga County EMA Director Ernie Baggett and the cooperation of the Prattville Fire Department.
“We’ve gotten input from Tuscaloosa, Elmore County -- many, many counties. Then we sat down the other day with the two companies that are going to bid, and they gave us some really good input and gave us some information. It will not be status quo. We’ll actually be moving forward in a positive manner.”
Continued VFD, city support
At Tuesday’s Autauga County Commission meeting, representatives from volunteer fire departments throughout Autauga County said they want to continue to provide EMS service to their communities. A spokesman told commissioners that county volunteers respond to 85 to 90 percent of county ambulance calls, and that local volunteers are facing questions from citizens that they just aren’t able to answer.
Johnson assured the volunteers that they would be part of the reconfigured system.
“I don’t want anybody feel like we’re just walking away from the volunteer fire departments. You just can’t do that,” he said. “We want to do what’s right, and we can only do what’s right when we all come together and do it.
“Any time you have changes, there are going to be a lot of questions. Right now, what we want to do is get a proposal out there, something that we can live with, and get the departments involved that are going to be out there with with these people, so we can serve the county.”
Battalion Chief Owens said in the meantime, the Prattville Fire Department will continue responding to EMS calls throughout Autauga County.
“Whoever they award the bid to, until they get set up, we’re still going to be going out and making EMS calls out to the county, just like we always have,” Owens said, “but once that ambulance company gets set up and they are ready to get on board, that’s when we will discontinue going out there.”
Within the past decade, the city’s fire department eliminated non-emergency transfers, which were taking away vital emergency resources. Owens estimated that the new system may be in place in early 2015.
Ready for action
Both Care Ambulance and Haynes Ambulance are on board for the transition.
“Autauga County has been on our map for a long time,” said Dale Gamble, vice president of Care, which since 2008 has provided service to Prattville Baptist Hospital. “We have been hearing that this was going to happen over the past five to six years, and now the time has finally come.”
Kirk Barrett, chief operations officer at Haynes Ambulance, said that company’s presence in both Elmore and Montgomery Counties would make the Autauga County service “a good fit.”
“We are the 911 provider for Elmore and Montgomery Counties, our corporate offices are stationed here, and a lot of our employees live in Autauga County,” Barrett said.. “Also, we could support it well. We staff 25 ambulances in those two counties, so we would have plenty to support Autauga County. Our ultimate goal is to improve response times for residents of Autauga County.”
Gamble said Care Ambulance not only has an ambulance staffed in Prattville but also “totally surrounds” the counties of Chilton, Perry, Dallas, Lowndes and the city of Montgomery.
“Currently, all the ambulances are coming out of the City of Prattville, and there is a prolonged response time,” he said. “We’ll see the ambulance response times cut in half at the very least -- probably better.”
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