CLARK COUNTY, Wash. — For the past couple of years, KGW Investigates has been digging into slow ambulance response times across the Portland metro. When there's an increase in calls for help, combined with difficulty hiring paramedics, it all adds up to a "Level Zero" — or when there's no ambulance to respond in an emergency.
While Multnomah County is struggling the most, due to a policy that requires two paramedics per ambulance, this is not an isolated issue. Clark County has also experienced calls without an ambulance available.
This month, Clark County Fire District 6 decided to do something about this potential gap in service, and purchased an ambulance of their own, to send out in what they call "rare" instances.
"This is not a licensed ambulance. It’s going to be registered with the state as an [Advanced Life Support] aid unit, but we can transport and not bill for that service in the event of an emergency," said David Russell, Assistance Chief of Operations. "We have a great relationship with AMR. We appreciate the work that they do. However, sometimes the call volume exceeds what they are capable of, and with road conditions slowing things down even more sometimes, it can put our paramedics in a really tight spot with a critical patient."
Fire officials bought the used ambulance from a dealership in Texas for $49,000. Russell explained that it was used to transport to and from military hospitals. While it has some miles on it, he said, it's in good condition — and will likely be ready for use at the end of August.
"We want the best for our citizens in District 6," he said, "so this is an insurance measure to bridge the gap between AMR and a long transport time."
KGW looked at data from the first six months of 2023 in Clark County, and found ambulances were busy and unable to respond right away on 3% of calls.
Overall, in District 6, Russell explained how they've been pretty lucky, but they still want to be prepared.
"You know, seeing the stories that happened in Multnomah County, with fire engines transporting critical patients — that is not a place to provide care on the floor of a fire engine. So we wanted to do something that would provide our citizens with a higher level of service and give our responders a place to work that is acceptable, in the rare need that we need this," Russell said.
Russell told KGW they only expect to use the ambulance five to ten times per year when a wait time is longer that 30 minutes.
KGW reached out to AMR for comment Monday afternoon. At this time, AMR has not responded.