Ala. councilman accuses FD of unfair complaint against ambulance service

Rickey Stokes

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Posted by: RStokes
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Date: Nov 14 2019 9:35 AM

DECATUR AL:    Councilman Charles Kirby on Tuesday accused Decatur Fire & Rescue of manufacturing a formal complaint against First Response Ambulance Service.

Kirby made the accusation after a First Response official demanded an apology for the complaint during the Ambulance Review Board’s monthly meeting.

The councilman said a Fire Department representative got a Decatur Morgan Hospital official to sign off on a complaint about a non-emergency call in September.

“The Fire Department shouldn’t have been involved because the ambulance service doesn’t have to do non-emergency calls,” Kirby said after Tuesday’s Ambulance Regulatory Board meeting.

A vocal proponent of First Response, Kirby has long contended that some Decatur Fire & Rescue officials want to run First Response — the city's sole ambulance provider — out of business so the Fire Department can take over ambulance services.

The ARB held its inaugural meeting last month following passage of a new ambulance service ordinance. The meeting Tuesday was the second meeting of the newly created regulatory board.

The new EMS coordinator, Fire Department Battalion Chief Ashley England, reported to the ARB that the hospital had filed the initial complaint against First Response.

The complaint read by England focused on a 7 p.m. Sept. 24 incident in which First Response took more than two hours to pick up a patient on a non-emergency call.

First Response owner David Childers said at the October board meeting that the hospital caused the delay and his drivers twice went to and left the facility because the patient wasn’t ready.

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