SCCAD will add City of Saint Charles coverage starting Sept. 30. The move lets the fire department remove two ambulances from its fleet and place personnel on an additional fire apparatus as EMS demand rises.
SCCAD begins providing emergency transport for the City of Saint Charles on Sept. 30, with two additional units added.
St. Charles Fire Department will decommission two ambulance units and reassign personnel to staff an extra fire apparatus.
# What happened
# Why the change
City and county officials have discussed this transition for years and decided now is the right time because of rising EMS call volume and a need to redistribute fire department staffing. The fire department will remove two ambulance units and relocate the affected personnel onto an additional fire apparatus that the department says has been needed.
St. Charles Fire Department Battalion Chief and PIO Kelly Hunsel said: "We found that transitioning to Saint Charles County Ambulance District as the primary transport agency allowed us to then relocate some of our personnel onto an additional fire apparatus that has been greatly needed." That statement explains the immediate operational intent: reduce the number of fire-based ambulances so firefighters can fill a gap in fire apparatus staffing.
# What changes operationally
# What this means for response and staffing
The immediate effect is a personnel shift within the fire department: staff previously assigned to city ambulances will be reassigned to an added fire apparatus, restoring fire response capacity the department views as necessary. For EMS, SCCAD will absorb more of the transport workload and expand unit availability in the city. The aim is to maintain or improve current response times while matching staffing to call demand across both services.
# Implementation details and timeline
# Context and related developments
# Practical takeaways for residents and responders
Folsom Fire Department returned Engine 39 to service after hiring 14 single-role EMTs and paramedics, restoring response capacity cut during last year’s budget reductions
Harrisburg officials are reviewing the city-run BLS ambulance service after questions about operating costs, revenue and responses outside city limits
As call volumes and demands grew, the city determined that consolidating the departments was a better option than "waiting for pressures to build."
Madison's Medic 1 will operate from downtown Fire Station 1, where nearly 3,800 EMS calls last year were handled by ambulances responding from other stations
When the contract runs out in 2028, the 900 Broward County Fire-Rescue personnel will be county employees instead of the sheriff's office.
Broward County commissioners voted unanimously not to renew the sheriff’s office fire-rescue agreement after 2028, returning roughly 900 employees and oversight of the department to the county
Loading more related stories...
Open the app view to save this story, compare related coverage, and continue from the same source.