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Finding A Better Use For Ambulance

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By ELIZABETH LEE BROWN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 10, 2007

LUTZ - The ambulance stationed at the Lutz Volunteer Fire Department gets so few emergency calls that Hillsborough County Fire Rescue officials want to find a better use for it.

Fire officials have moved Rescue Unit No. 24 out of Lutz for three months.

Under a 90-day trial period that began today, the emergency medical services unit was moved to east Hillsborough in the Progress Village area because of the higher number of calls.
Fire officials are to meet tonight at the Lutz Civic Center to explain the change. They are describing the rescue unit's temporary assignment as a 'pilot program.'

'The chief is not going to leave Lutz without adequate rescue coverage,' fire rescue spokesman Ray Yeakley said.

Yeakley said ambulances in fire stations in Northdale and on Chapman Road in south Lutz will fill in the gap.

In addition, fire engines are required to have trained paramedics on board, so firefighters can administer emergency medical care, but they won't be able to transport patients to the hospital, he said.

An audit on call volumes showed that the Lutz-based EMS unit responded to the fewest number of rescue calls in the county. It averaged 1.57 calls per day during the 10-hour peak period of 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Yeakley said there were 24 days last year when the rescue unit had no calls during its 24-hour shift.

The high-volume areas average more than 4.4 calls per day during the same peak period, the audit showed.

An increase in the number of calls in the FishHawk and Bloomingdale area is pushing the need for more units in east Hillsborough, Yeakley said.

At the end of the 90-day trial period, officials will study the statistics to decide where to place the rescue unit, he said.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Public meeting on Fire Rescue pilot program

WHEN: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. today

WHERE: Lutz Civic Center, 98 1st Ave. NW, Lutz

Reporter Elizabeth Lee Brown can be reached at (813) 865-1502 or ebrown@tampatrib.com.

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