HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — The Huntersville Fire Department is ending its contract with Mecklenburg EMS. Now, the agencies are going to have to agree on a new one.
“If you dialed 911, right now, they’re going to say police, fire, MEDIC,” said Huntersville Fire Chief Jim Dotoli. “You should get one of those services. Your taxpaying system.’’
In a presentation last month, Dotoli blasted MEDIC for how his department is forced to respond to medical calls.
In response, the town voted unanimously to end the fire department’s contract with MEDIC, which has been in place since 2017.
In a letter, it basically says if a new deal isn’t made in 180 days, the fire department will stop answering EMS calls for the town.
The department said it wants to change some call types that fire trucks don’t go on.
In response to the presentation, MEDIC leadership sent a letter this week to Huntersville Fire saying, “It is disconcerting that Dotoli appears so nonchalant about threatening to upend the current EMS system...”
Dotoli said his firefighters sometimes wait on scene for 20 to 30 minutes for an ambulance.
Some patients may have to wait up to 60 minutes to see an ambulance under a new response plan that took effect in 2023.
MEDIC said, “Chief Dotoli failed to point out that the response configuration changes resulted in a 16% average decrease in EMS volume for county fire departments and an increased average scene time of only 59 seconds countywide.”
Huntersville’s fire chief also said MEDIC should pay his department more to respond to medical calls.
MEDIC said that EMS agencies in most other counties don’t pay fire departments at all.
The money comes through other means.
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