By Bryna Zumer
Baltimore Sun
CARROLL COUNTY, Md. — Despite a recent crash that totaled a Gamber and Community Fire Company ambulance (and injured two EMTs), Carroll County officials say they’re well on the way to taking over all 20 ambulances in operation countywide.
“We did have a spare ambulance we were able to put there temporarily [to fill in for Gamber’s] and we’re preparing to replace that unit in the next several weeks with a dealer off-the-shelf unit,” said Carroll County Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services Chief Michael Robinson. “Each year we add additional ambulances and eventually the county will have a fleet of 20 ambulances. That will take about five years.”
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As in most places, the vast majority of calls handled by Carroll stations are medical, with fire response being only a small part of their work.
“EMS is about 80% of what we do,” said Robinson, a 45-year veteran of fire/EMS services in Maryland , most recently in Baltimore County.
That means “the liability in what we do is significant,” he said, noting the department now has a medical director — Stephanie Kemp, contracted through Johns Hopkins — who reviews all incidents.
“It sets up checks and balances,” Robinson said. “To the citizens, it translates to continuity and consistency.”
Getting a new ambulance takes about two years, Robinson said, and the Board of Carroll County Commissioners just green-lit the purchase of three more ambulances.
A fiery crash involving a Gamber & Community Fire Company ambulance Sept. 6 remains under investigation, said Baltimore County Police Crash Team, which is overseeing the incident. Two Gamber medics were among seven people injured when a gasoline tanker slammed into an ambulance at Westminster Pike and Butler Road in Reisterstown, according to police.
Bryce Iselin, 21, of Severna Park, and Jason Moore, 31, of Curtis Bay, were flown to Shock Trauma in Baltimore via the Medevac helicopter, Robinson confirmed.
The transition from volunteer-run stations to a centralized Department of Fire & EMS in Carroll County has been rocky, which county officials agreed was to be expected.
“Our goal is to streamline things, try not to duplicate effort,” Robinson said.
The county owns nine ambulances, and volunteers provide an additional 10, Robinson said.
Meanwhile, “we now have a data analyst working for [the department] who evaluates our statistics on an ongoing basis. From this data, we will look at staffing trends and identify issues,” he said. “The growth of the agency in the future will be based on the needs of the county, based on staffing analysis and as determined by the Board of County Commissioners .”
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