At midnight Wednesday, Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue deployed Medic 21, a new ambulance based at Station 21 in Ridgefield.
By the time Fire Chief John Nohr hosted a press conference the next day, the ambulance had already responded to eight calls for transport to local hospitals. It’s the first ambulance to be stationed at Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue headquarters.
The ambulance will reduce response times for high-priority calls in La Center, Ridgefield, Woodland, the Cowlitz Indian Reservation and unincorporated parts of north Clark County, Nohr said.
That includes calls for cardiac arrest, acute respiratory distress and serious traumatic injuries, Nohr said. American Medical Response will continue to answer lower-priority calls within the service area, which covers about 150 square miles and serves 52,000 residents.
“The highest priority calls will be served much quicker, generally,” Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue Assistant Chief Mike Jackson said.
American Medical Response is contractually obligated to respond to 90 percent of calls north of 179th Street in less than 20 minutes. South of 179th Street, the response time is 10 minutes, Nohr said.
Nohr said that he expects Medic 21 to complete about 1,500 transports per year, primarily to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center, Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center and PeaceHealth St. John Medical Center in Longview. That’s four to five transports per day, Nohr said.
He said Medic 21 marks one of the biggest changes in Clark County emergency response since 1992, when Clark County’s population was 252,000 residents. As of 2023, the county’s population had risen to 521,000.
American Medical Response also provides ambulance service to Vancouver, Battle Ground, Salmon Creek; the Camas-Washougal Fire Department provides services for those cities and North Country EMS provides services to Amboy and Yacolt.
The ambulance was not paid for with taxes but was a gift from the Cowlitz Tribal Foundation, Nohr said. The total cost for the vehicle and equipment (not including staff) was about $500,000, Jackson said.
Another ambulance funded by the foundation will be available by 2026 to use as backup, Jackson said. It won’t be stationed at Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue headquarters but will operate out of another, still-to-be-determined station. The total cost for both vehicles and equipment will be around $900,000, Jackson said.
The ambulance is in addition to the $446,000 contract the Cowlitz Indian Tribe has with Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue to provide emergency transport services for Cowlitz Indian Tribe land, including ilani casino, Nohr said. The amount of the contract has been raised over the last several years since the hotel’s construction, Nohr said, increasing every time a new structure is added.
Medic 21 comes with state-of-the-art equipment, including a $70,000 hydraulic gurney lift that can hoist up to 700 pounds, firefighter-paramedic Bryan Carroll said during a demonstration of the ambulance’s capabilities at the press conference.
That will be “huge for preventing back injuries,” Jackson said.
The ambulance also has a Lifepak electrocardiogram monitor and defibrillator. The vehicle functions as a mobile intensive care unit or “transport capable life support,” providing critical, lifesaving interventions en route to the hospital, Carroll said.
Nohr said the transport fees will not increase for those in Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue’s service area. Fees range from $1,500 to $1,900 per ambulance transport, depending on the severity and needs of the patient. The cost for patients without insurance will be written off, Nohr said.
“The fire department is incredibly happy to be able to provide this level of service,” Nohr said. “When people need the definitive care of getting to the hospital, we need to be able to get them there.”
