Bigfork Fire to take over medical services

The Bigfork Rural Fire District Board voted last week to take on the operations of Bigfork Ambulance starting July 1.

Discussions began in May about the possibility of disbanding the ambulance and merging with the Bigfork Volunteer Fire Department due to struggles with getting volunteers to respond or sign up to take calls in addition to other internal conflicts.

Beginning with an informational meeting for ambulance members at 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 30, at the fire hall, the process of merging operations with the fire department will begin. The fire department's usual business meeting July 1 will be the first with both organizations together.

Fire Chief Wayne Loeffler said the fire department will be ready to accept the operation. Loeffler said the department has taken the steps to get the necessary licensing to be able to smoothly transition to handling the Village's medical services.

"The bottom line is that you'll have one organization instead of two," Loeffler said. "We will still maintain the top level of care. We're just going to continue as it is now."

Loeffler said some details of the transition are still being determined, but current ambulance members will be grandfathered in to the fire department and employees will be adopted with some changes in hours and duties.

The fire board voted 4-1 to adopt the emergency medical services.

Fire board member Ivan Barnes opposed the motion. Barnes said he wasn't objecting to taking on the ambulance, but to Loeffler's transition plan that included absorbing all of the organization's employees. Barnes said he felt those funds would be better spent hiring paramedics.

"In my opinion, a paramedic can handle a schedule but someone paid to do a schedule might not be a paramedic," Barnes said.

Though volunteers may have medical or fire focus, Loeffler said all volunteers will need to be able to at least provide support for both sides. Currently about 45 to 50 percent of volunteers crossover to serve in both organizations.

"I don't anticipate a whole lot of changes," ambulance administrator Tracy Norred said. "Even though we'll be with fire, it's going to be a slow changing of the guard. The top priority for both EMS and fire is going to be patient care and fire prevention and suppression."

The process of transferring Bigfork Ambulance's assets will take longer, Norred said. Due to how its charter is written, the nonprofit ambulance service isn't able to directly pass its funds and equipment to the fire department, which is a government entity.

The funds will instead pass through fellow 501(c)3 Friends of the Bigfork Fire Department, which will also maintain any earmarked accounts and help fundraise for medical service needs. Those earmarked accounts including funds for a new building.

Fire and emergency medical services will maintain separate budgets within the department since money from the state and taxes goes to support fire. EMS will still need to be self-sustaining in its funding, Norred said.

In all, it could take until the end of the year before everything is completed. Norred said it's important to take the time to do the process right.

"We want to make sure it's done right so we don't have problems," she said. "Both departments are doing very well. The differences that were made apparent have been resolved. Everyone has a positive attitude for forward motion. We had a little bump in the road, but we are on for smoother sailing now."