City takes first steps to get out of the ambulance business

South Lake Tahoe Fire Chief Jeff Meston made a presentation Tuesday, asking for an alteration to the Cal Tahoe JPA agreement for City provided ambulance services.

Meston wants the City to remain a part of the JPA, but hand over ambulance duties to Lake Valley Fire Protection District (LVFPD).

Since 2011, both the South Lake Tahoe and Lake Valley Fire Departments have had to subsidize ambulance service costs since El Dorado County reconfigured the way they give money to those providing ambulance service in the county. South Lake Tahoe gets about $666,666 per ambulance annually to cover staff and expenses, far below other districts in the county that receive $1 million per ambulance.

"We need to focus on high risk/low frequency events," said Meston. "We live in a forest, surrounded by a forest, and need to be concerned at all times with fire suppression."

He told the Council that there are about 120 motels in South Lake Tahoe with about 5,000 rooms. In the last year there were five hotel fires. Couple that number with the fact that 77% of the homes in the city built prior to 1979, build under old fire codes, his staff needs to spend time focused on fire, and not ambulances.

Also an issue with Meston is the time staff needs to spend on inter-facility transport (IFT) of patients, pulling them away from protecting the city in case of fire and other emergencies. In 2014, South Lake Tahoe performed a record high 640 IFTs to such cities as Reno, Sacramento, San Jose and San Francisco as well as other locations in between. 2015 is looking to be another record breaker according to Meston.

IFT's cost the city money and take firefighters away from their main goal of protecting the community, said Meston. The number of IFT's the city completes is unusual for fire based systems such as the South Lake Tahoe Fire Department (SLTFD). Since the average trip to another facility is four hours, that is 2,560 hours spent away from the area. The City gets reimbursed from the County at a flat rate for the IFT, not the actual cost as they did prior to 2011.

For the SLTFD, staffing levels have been reduced yet calls have increased. In 2000, there was a total of 38 personnel that handled 2,000 calls, which increased to 44 a year later during the first year of the ambulance contract. During that year there were 2,200 calls. In 2015, there are 3,200 annual calls with a staff of 34.

LVFPD wants to take over the ambulance service and be the exclusive provider for the JPA. They would staff two ambulances out of Station 2 in the city limits across from South Tahoe Middle School. The City would have two three person paramedic engine companies working out of Station 1 and Station 3 (Ski Run Blvd and near the Y). Both SLTFD and LVFPD would continue to cover the community in providing emergency services.

"We want the best level of service at the best response time," said Mayor Hal Cole. Chief Meston assured him this would happen.

None of this will be possible though if El Dorado County doesn't go for it. During Monday, July 13's Cal Tahoe JPA meeting, the service agreement will be changed between SLTFD and LVFPD. The County will still have to approve that agreement.

The County receives funds from the State of California through the Emergency Medical Services System to be distributed to each of the County Service Areas (CSA). South Lake Tahoe, Lake Valley and parts of Alpine County are part of CSA 3.