Lawton Fire Department exploring idea to provide limited ambulance service

Lawton Fire Department wants to provide ambulance service to the general public.

Fire Chief Jared Williams and Deputy Chief Brent Baggett outlined their proposal to a four-member City Council committee last week, and the council consensus was the idea to allow firefighters to serve as backup when Lawton's two ambulance services can't respond has merit. Williams said fire department leaders will flesh out the proposal before presenting the idea to the full council.

Williams said the idea stems from a change in state law that goes into effect Nov. 1. The Oklahoma Senate-crafted act, related to emergency medical services, will allow any certified emergency medical response agency to provide "limited transport in an emergency vehicle...upon approval by the appropriate online medical control at the time of transport." Online medical control is something directed by a physician via radio or telephone.

Williams said the change was the result of an incident in Oklahoma City where a firefighter waited 30 minutes with a badly burned child, then transported the child and parents to a hospital himself because a backlog of calls delayed response.

"He was disciplined," Williams said, explaining existing state law makes what the firefighter did illegal because transport of medical patients can be done only by agencies holding a transport license. "Under this (new) law, fire and other emergency response services can transport (patients) to a hospital."

But, Williams and Baggett said Lawton Fire Department wants to take it a step further, certifying Lawton Fire Department as an ambulance agency so it can treat and transport patients under limited circumstances. Williams said the proposal isn't a slap at the two ambulance services already serving Lawton, but a proposal to enact a mutual aid agreement so city firefighters can fill in when ambulances aren't immediately available.

"It happened the other day," Baggett said of a "zero" situation where all available ambulances were tied up with other calls.

"We're only used in situations where one (ambulance) is not available," Williams said of the plan, adding Lawton Fire Department would not be in the rotation schedule (E-911 dispatchers rotate ambulance calls between the two ambulance services).

Lawton Fire Department has two ambulances it uses for fire personnel on the scenes of major fires, stationed at Station No. 1 in the Lawton Public Safety Center on Railroad Street and Station No. 5 at West Gore Boulevard and Northwest 53rd Street. Williams said the department and its personnel also have the training and equipment to provide medical attention.

He said the proposal makes sense because, on average, firefighters are the first emergency response personnel on the scene 60 to 70 percent of the time.

"We arrive prior to ambulances," Williams said, explaining the department has at least 50 certified personnel who can provide some type of emergency medical response until an ambulance arrives — important in situations such as heart attacks where every minute counts. "We're initiating that care."

While firefighters can initiate the care, they can't transport the patient to a hospital without a transport license, under existing state law.

Ward 6 Councilman Sean Fortenbaugh said the measure allows Lawton firefighters to provide a "quality safety net," particularly in cases such as cardiac events.

Allowing the fire department to function as an ambulance service also means the department could file claims with a patient's health insurance provider, seeking reimbursement for the medical supplies they may use trying to stabilize a patient. Williams said while the department once spent $30 to $45 on medical materials used at a scene, that cost now is $300 to $350.

"Ambulances can bill; we can't," he said, explaining the department already has the software and an employee on staff who could set up a billing system to address patients that firefighters handle.

A fee schedule will be among the details Williams and Baggett will craft before presenting the proposal to the full council.

Ward 2 Councilman Kelly Harris asked why the city couldn't be more aggressive, perhaps setting up a full ambulance service. But, Ward 8 Councilman Randy Warren said that idea has been explored in the past and would be costly; he estimated millions of dollars for everything that would have to be done to create a fully-functional ambulance service within the fire department.

"This is a good stop gap," Warren said.

Baggett said the benefit is that Lawton Fire Department could provide two more ambulances to the existing number of ambulances available for transport. Warren said the department's two ambulances also are closer to east and west Lawton than are ambulances associated with Kirk's Ambulance Service and Comanche County Memorial Hospital (both located in the city's south central region).

"This is two more immediate resources," Williams said, adding while the new state law allows the fire department to transport patients, "we can do better than that."