SHARON Firefighters union seeks to start ambulance service

The city would have to beef up its fire department to run the service.
SHARON, Pa. -- City firefighters are interested in starting a municipal ambulance service.
Local 417 of the International Association of Firefighters has asked city council for permission to have an emergency medical services study done by its international union, to determine if the idea is feasible and how it might work.
City council voted Thursday to allow the study to be done, provided that there is no cost to the city.
The union's letter to council said there were 40 times so far this year when no private ambulance service was available to answer an emergency call in Sharon. A municipal ambulance service operated by the fire department could resolve that problem, firefighters said.
George Beckley, Local 417 president, said the city would likely have to hire additional staff to run the service. Just how many people might be needed would be determined by the study, he said.
There's also the possibility that a study might show the idea isn't feasible, he said.
Here's the situation
Sharon is generally served by McGonigle's and Rural/Metro ambulance services. If they aren't available, the nearest ambulance is in Greenville, a 30-minute drive away, Beckley said.
The city firefighters' emergency medical services committee will help gather data for the study, he said.
The idea is to have a single ambulance unit that would respond only to Sharon calls, and it could be arranged with the county's 911 emergency dispatch service to send all emergency calls in the city to the fire department first, Beckley said.
Fees would likely be set up as a third-party billing system, he said, explaining that means the ambulance service would bill the patient's insurance carrier and accept as payment in full whatever that insurance paid.
gwin@vindy.com