By Bill Carey
EMS1
VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. — The Ventura County Fire Department has deployed five used ambulances to improve response times when American Medical Response (AMR) is working under a high call volume.
Fire Chief Dustin Gardner said four of the ambulances will be used at any one time while the fifth will be kept in reserve, VC Star reported.
Under a new month-to-month agreement between AMR and the fire department the “rescue ambulances” will be dispatched to calls in which AMR has an estimated arrival time of at least 10 minutes and the fire department has the closest ambulance equipped to handle those calls.
The new ambulances will also be available for special incidents, such as working structure fires and mass casualties.
Chief Gardner said the department paid for the ambulances out of its budget and is assigning existing paramedics for staffing.