Santa Barbara County Supervisors consider ambulance provider options

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -When Santa Barbara County Supervisors put an ambulance contract out for bidding for the first time it sparked controversy.

In the fall it appeared the county was leaning toward an exclusive contract the American Medical Services known as AMR.

Nicole Mitchel of Global Medical Response representing AMR said, "We believe we have the best approach overall to operating the local EMS system,

She went on to say, "We will operate at no financial risk to the county."

Santa Barbara County Firefighters with 37 stations and trained paramedics tried to appeal to make their case, but were denies.

They did not give up on their campaign to be recognized as a provider.

They have ambulances, too.

At a news conference on Monday Fire Captain Brian Fernandez shared his optimism about improving services.

"One of the improvements we are most excited about is the reinvestment of the revenues back into the system to increase ambulances on the street to and ultimately improve response times, said Fernandez.

He said they have worked to identify deficiencies.

"We are exited about integrating and improving the services that we currently have," said Fernandez, "the main one of the improvement we are most excited about are the increase ambulance on the Street and improve response times."

Carptinteria-Summerland Fire Protection Chief Greg Fish agrees.

"The current provider provides nine times out of ten. They have to arrive on scene within the allotted response time. We're looking to increase that to ten times out of ten so that nobody gets left behind," said Fish.

Although Monday's news conference made it sound like a done deal for firefighters, Santa Barbara County Supervisors still need to hear from staff and take a vote.

Some said they couldn't comment before the vote.

But Supervisor Das Williams weighed in.

" I have been interested in innovation in the ambulance sector for a long time so I am looking forward to this." said Williams, "There are many dimensions to the matter, but at the end of the day I have a high degree of trust in our local firefighters and out leadership."

Supervisor could vote for one or the other or for a compromise.

The vote is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, April 4.

The contract would begin in 2024.