Ambulance service providers spark contract debate in Santa Barbara County

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.-Fire Chiefs Association spokesperson Chris Mailes said there is a wave across the state of California to move toward fire-based ambulance services.

The county looked to be part of that wave when supervisors voted to give the Santa Barbara County Fire Protection District the contract to operate ambulance services.

But that didn't sit well with long-time provider American Medical Response, known as AMR.

AMR filed a lawsuit against the county and a court ruling left AMR in charge until the suit is settled.

Santa Barbara County Supervisors have met privately to talk about the case.

Firefighters and their supporters met publicly on Tuesday morning to share their frustration.

"What we understand is that for the last several weeks the Board of Supervisors has been meeting in closed session regarding some type of settlement with AMR to avoid the upcoming court case in November," said Mailes.

Mailes said they called Tuesday's meeting because it appears supervisors don't seem to want to meet with firefighters right now.

"This is our avenue to let the public know that we have been patient, we have been respectful, our message has not changed in 5 years; we need more ambulances in the system and we need accountability we need transparency," said Mailes.

He shared a new study reflecting response times that differs with those used in the court case.

We were able to secure the study," said Mailes, done by an independent consultant using state of the art deployment strategy and we were able to get that by the county Fire Chiefs Association.

Both sides claim to have the best response times.

"That is what matter to the citizens," said Mailes.

He said the county allows for the private provider to request exemptions and time corrections on calls that impacts recorded times.

The fire department has already paid for 35 new ambulances via the county procurement process that are ready to go.

There are 3 already in use at UCSB, Cuyama and Vandenberg Village.

The county has 37 city and county fire stations not including Vandenberg Space Force Base and the United States Forest Service stations.

AMR could still serve parts of the county if a fire-based response in place.

Many city leaders have written letters to supervisors.

Goleta City Councilmember James Kyraco said his city needs service for the "silver tsunami."

He said the workforce is growing, too.

"We have a strong representation of older folks, seniors, they need to be able to count on reliable medical services and that makes it extra sensitive for my district, but also for the entire city, so, it is very important that people from one side of the city to another."

He hopes to see a resolution soon.

"We have excellent first responders professional whether our county firefighters or ambulance contractors, regardless of who we are talking about, they all do a good job," said Kyraco, "This is really about resource allocation and making sure that we have the level of service we need not the level of service that satisfies some out of town company's profitability margin."

Both believe response times are likely to improve with more ambulances serving the county.

"We don't have a hospital that is centrally located within the city we have a hospital that is at the eastern end of he city. If you live in Western Goleta response times are key," said Kyraco.

Mailes said AMR lost its contract in Sonoma and San Bernadino, so Santa Barbara County would be far from alone.

AMR said it does not comment on pending litigation but added they do not anticipate any changes to ambulance service at this time.for a response and are still waiting to hear back.

We will have more on the ambulance response tonight on the news.