No cause for alarm

What do you do when your emergency vehicle breaks down? 

Five ambulances make up the Shoshone County Ambulance Service District’s fleet, with three being the minimum number they need to keep in operation at any given time. 

However, the number of ambulances ready to respond to emergencies for the county dropped to two in December when three ambulances were out for repairs for two weeks. 

Shoshone Fire District No. 1 Chief John Miller said that’s when they had to turn to their firefighting neighbors at Prichard-Murray Volunteer Fire Department to “rent” an ambulance to have on hand.

“We have loaned a Prichard-Murray ambulance for almost the last month, and it has really been a great asset for us and relationship builder for all the agencies. We have had four ambulances go out for repair over the last month or so. Luckily, we didn’t miss a call or be delayed to any response due to the mechanical issues,” Miller said.

Three of the vehicles in the fleet were reported to have more than 150,000 miles on them in 2023, and the new ambulances that district board chairman Bruce Van Broeke ordered last year aren’t expected to be ready until anytime between April and July.

In a board of county commissioners meeting last week, Van Broeke said the vehicles have to withstand a lot of wear and tear on the roads throughout the county and when there are medical transports to Kootenai Health in Coeur d'Alene.

“We’re doing lots of miles, and that’s what’s scaring me,” Van Broeke said.

Keeping ambulances in top performance shape can easily be waylaid when there are part delays or major, time-consuming issues. 

“When they break down, it’s been severe,” Van Broeke said.

Rising costs for new emergency vehicles and a two-year wait for vehicle builds and delivery have created barriers for the county to stay as current with equipment as they would prefer to be. 

Miller said in an email that although the Federal Emergency Management Agency offers Assistance to Firefighters Grants every year. This year, the apparatus element was removed due to the wait time and grant funding time constraints making it harder for departments to find funding.

“This grant is not available for ambulances as the government finds EMS to be ‘non-essential.’ We did purchase both ambulances on order through grants, one being a state grant and the other being a local ARPA grant. Both grants did not cover 100% of the ambulances. The state grant was $192,000 and the local ARPA grant was for $150,000. A new ambulance runs in the ballpark of $350,000,” Miller said.

Meantime, having the Prichard-Murray ambulance has been a relief for county EMS crews to have in their arsenal, and it's expected the final ambulance out for repairs will return to the fleet next week.

Miller said it’s rare that all three ambulances need to be in the field, but there are at least a few times a month when emergencies cause there to be a series of overlapping emergencies where three ambulances need to be deployed.

“Using a Prichard-Murray Volunteer Fire Department ambulance is unusual and we have done it once prior. I also do not believe we have had three ambulances ‘out of service’ at the same time before, so this was a challenge,” Miller said.