New Niagara County ambulance service now fully operational

Submitted by the Public Information Office

Niagara County Legislature Chairwoman Becky Wydysh on Monday announced the new Niagara County ambulance service answered its first call this past Sunday and is now fully operational to serve Niagara County residents. The county has two ambulances in service.

“Over the last several years, we have faced the dual problems of a declining number of volunteer firefighters coupled with more regulatory demands on those same volunteers,” Wydysh said. “This is a problem across the state, and the result leads to longer response times for citizens who need help. The county had to establish an ambulance service to supplement our volunteers.”

Wydysh thanked the county’s volunteer fire companies for their patience as the county was taking the necessary steps to put the new ambulance service in place.

Niagara County Director of Emergency Services Jonathan Schultz said the new service is comprised of two crews and a supervisor with a service that covers from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. for one crew, and 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the second crew every day of the week.

“We extensively reviewed our data on EMS calls and it came as no surprise that the toughest challenge for our volunteer companies is to respond to calls during the workday,” Schultz said. “So, we worked closely with our Fire Advisory Board and our fire chiefs to devise a schedule to fill in those gaps. I want to stress we view the county ambulance services as supplemental to the great work already being done by our volunteers.”

Schultz said that, over the past month, the county has hired six EMTs, four paramedics, two supervisors and a division manager for the ambulance service.

"Our new team was excited to finally begin serving the people of Niagara County, and we have already answered more than a dozen calls,” he said.