By Sarah Owen
The Daily Gazette
HARMON, Ill. — The number of firefighters and emergency medical technicians on Harmon’s all-volunteer fire department depends on the day of the week, and on whom you ask.
Last week, the department lost its ability to run its ambulance service because it couldn’t show it had enough EMTs on staff.
KSB Hospital, which oversees the small village’s emergency medical services, pulled Harmon’s license on Aug. 19, after acting Fire Chief Russell Lauritzen notified the hospital of the shortage.
To operate an ambulance service, Harmon must have enough EMTs to provide 24/7 coverage. That takes about six EMTs, said Doug Sears, EMS coordinator at KSB.
Harmon, with a population that hovers just under 150, has a spotty history with its ambulance service and its fire department. For the last year or so, though, it has provided service to the 60 or so square miles it covers.
That all changed in the last few weeks, though, when rumors, resignations, and removals started flying.
Two weeks ago, Chief Mike Thompson resigned, saying he was tired of dealing with “little kid stuff.” He cited infighting among firefighters and village board members, many of whom serve with both groups.
One EMT, Mandie Kusk, sided with the chief and left when he did.
Two other firefighters, both EMTs and one of whom also is a village board member, were “forced out” of the fire department around the same time. The board member’s husband, also an EMT, left the department when she was booted.
By most counts, that brought the department’s EMT count down to two. One of those EMTs, Oscar Moreno, also a board member, said he then resigned because he realized the department no longer had enough volunteers to operate the ambulance service.
That left one EMT: Thompson’s son, James. He and a small handful of other firefighters have been running the department for the last few weeks, talking about disbanding the department altogether because there weren’t enough firefighters to operate a truck.
Tuesday night, though, the village board appointed a new chief — D.J. Sheridan, an EMT, who hasn’t served for the last year or so, but who has been “on and off” the department for 19 years.
Molly Smith, the board member/EMT who was removed from the department, also was reinstated. She said her husband, Jordan, and the other EMT would come back to the department with her.
That brought the EMT count back up to five, as of Tuesday night. Moreno said he hadn’t decided whether he will come back.
Smith said, though, that she was confident Harmon would be able to get its ambulance service running again “soon.”
“We have other people that have said they will come back,” she said. “It kind of just depends on when the chief decides to put us back in.”
A 30-day schedule, showing 24-hour EMT coverage, will have to be made before Harmon can regain its ambulance service.
Copyright 2009