By Rob Tucker
The News Tribune
Copyright 2007 The News Tribune
TACOMA, Wash. — DuPont is preparing to lose the free ambulance service it has received from Fort Lewis for decades.
The growing south Pierce County city will upgrade its own emergency medical service in the short term and look to contract with the Lakewood Fire District over the long term.
Beginning next month, DuPont residents will be charged if they’re transported in a city ambulance.
“We’ve grown, and they have to cover their base,” Councilwoman Penny Coffey said of Fort Lewis. “With all this comes a price.”
The Army told DuPont in early February that it would discontinue its free ambulance service to city residents on Sept. 30, city officials said.
A Madigan Army Medical Center spokeswoman said last week that the decision has been put on hold pending review at a higher level.
But DuPont officials said they can’t wait because they must ensure continuing emergency service to residents.
City ambulances will begin carrying paramedics Sept. 1. Users will be charged a minimum of $440 per call and $10 per mile.
City Fire Chief Chris Jensen said the upgraded city ambulance service will lead to faster response times. If the Madigan ambulance is busy, he said, a DuPont resident currently has to wait 20 to 30 minutes for a paramedic ambulance from Lakewood.
In a life-threatening emergency, he said, “you can’t wait.”
Madigan didn’t say why it was delaying a decision. Spokeswoman Sharon Ayala said the Army will keep running ambulances in DuPont for now.
“We’ll continue to be good neighbors,” she said.
DuPont is seeing scores of military families moving into new housing developments as they’re assigned to nearby Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base. City officials say they expect even more.
City Administrator Bill McDonald said about a third of the city’s population is either active-duty or retired military and their families.
But Army lawyers have told Madigan that military ambulances at the post can’t operate as the primary responder to an emergency outside its gates, city officials said.
Fort Lewis now has 28,000 soldiers and continues to grow. It and McChord also have been ordered by the federal Base Closure and Realignment Commission to merge some administrative functions, including management and medical services.
DuPont also is changing, with a population of 7,000 and thousands more expected. People moving into some of the new housing developments expect advanced ambulance service with paramedics, McDonald said.
He also noted that DuPont has the Patriots Landing development that caters to retired military veterans, a group more likely to need higher-level emergency support.
The city Fire Department already has an ambulance, but until now it has carried emergency medical technicians. Paramedics can give higher levels of care than EMTs, including administering lifesaving drugs during a heart attack.
As the Sept. 30 deadline loomed, Mayor Steve Young said he and local officials decided to contract with reserve paramedics on a per-shift basis starting next month.
“We have no animosity” toward Fort Lewis, Young said. “We just need to plan accordingly.”
The City Council has authorized negotiations with the Lakewood Fire District to eventually provide full service, including fire protection.
Young said there are issues yet to resolve, such as the fate of DuPont’s 12 full-time firefighters. McDonald said they would be integrated into the larger fire district, which has five stations and 97 firefighters per 24-hour shift.
Lakewood Fire District Chief Ken Sharp said a contract could be in place sometime next year if both sides agree.
Firefighters would occupy the public safety station that DuPont is building and plans to open in late 2008 or early 2009.