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Thursday, March 31,1977 The Lima News-BlPublic, private emergency units clash over service1 ... _ ^ rienartment in Allen County, Nichols Shawnse Township._______________By TERRY GOODING News Staff Writer Suburban township and village of-ctals maintain their rescue squad ie rat ions are adequate to provide srvice in their districts. That belief is led to conflict with the local ’ivate ambulance service. Spokesmen for public rescue squads ly they can handle most emergen-es in their districts and when they sed assistance they rely on mutual M agreements with each other. Some are saying that Lima Am* ulance Service, the private operator, lonjtors rescue calls and makes unauthorized runs in their areas Whitely Yaeger, owner of the private service, counters that charge by saying township and village squads have been attempting to put bis service out of business. He says “we go where we’re called.”Elida rescue squad services American, Sugar Creek, Amanda and Marion townships, according to Assistant Fire Chief Lanny Bailey.And Bailey said the squad’s two rescue vehicles are enough to service that ar^a. If more help is needed the village has agreements with all the other rescue squad departments inthe county,Elida's rescue squad never has had a written agreement with Lima Ambulance Service, Bailey said- He did add, however, that if an unusual emergency situation arose the squad would not hesitate calling the service.Bath’s rescue squad operation also has two rescue vehicles which are an asset to that department, according to Dean Nichols, fire department chief,The rescue squad in Bath services all of that township and has mutual aid agreements to aid or help anydepartment in Allen County, NicholsFurther, the squad is authorized to go out of Allen County if contacted by a law enforcement agency.Nichols said that if the two units are not adequate, for instance, in event of a multiple injury accident, “then we’d ask for the nearest township rescue squad.”Bath has no agreements with Lima Ambulance Service, according to Nichols.Having only one unit sometimes could lead to problems if there are two simultaneous rescue calls inShawnee Township.But in that event the township does have mutual aid agreements with the other townships, Dale Brown, Shawnee township's assistant fire chief said.The rescue squad in that township is responsible for Shawnee Township-and Fort Shawnee, Brown said.Gene Davis, who is in charge of Perry Township's rescue squad was unavailable for comment this morning.Their belief in their ability to adequately service their own districts by suburban rescue squads has sometimes caused flareups with Lima Ambulance Service personnel.And those problems “are going to have to come to a head,” noted Jim Baine, fire chief at EUda Village.Baine indicated that Elida has encountered problems with Lima Ambulance Service, which he says on occasion has monitored rescue calls in the village and responded to the scene without authorization.“If they hear a policeman or state patrolman call in for an ambulance, they're going,” Baine said.And Baine says that the reason for such practices is that ambulance service is a “business to them. They charge for runs.”“To us it’s a service; they pay for it out of their taxes,” Baine said of the village’s rescue squad operation.Baine’s statement concerning service for the village holds true for the other township and viEage rescue squad operations as well.Brown of Shawnee indicated that the service in Shawnee Township is a “tax-supported service. It’s free service,” he added, as opposed to Lima Ambulance’s procedure to charge for ambulance runs.“We’re a service,” Nichols of Bath agreed.Yaeger, has other notions,l. __________iio that lt;;tnre hisambulance service came to Lima in 1964, township and village rescue squad operations have attempted to put his service out of business.And Yaeger indicated that on at least two occasions his men have been threatened by suburban personnel.In one instance Yaeger alleges one of his employes was struck by an Elida Village rescue squad volunteer for responding to a call in American Township.But Baine of EUda denies that incident happened. “I was there,” he said.Another incident cited by Yaeger involves Perry Township’s volunteer department. Yaeger said in that incident, in which Lima Ambulance responded to a call at Eastgate Mall, a Perry constable threatened his ambulance personnel, stating that if they ever came back into their territory, they would go to jail.“That’s all false,” replied Tom Staup, Perry’s assistant police cruet. “I was the patrolman at the scene.”Staup said what he did say was, If you’re ever running an unauthorized emergency run in Perry Township you will be cited into court.” Staup alleged Lima Ambulance Service had monitored the rescue call.“We haven’t had those problems here,” remarked Brown of Shawnee And Brown acknowledged that if, in fact, Lima Ambulance Service is called “that’s the people’s prerogative.”Nichols also said Bath had no immediate problems.All of the township or village officials contacted stated there were no restrictions on Lima Ambulance Service coming into their districts. They maintain that calling that service is the individual’s prerogative.As for the jurisdictional differences, “there's nothing we can do about it,” Yaeger said. “We go where
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The Lima News
Lima, Ohio, US
Thu, Mar 31, 1977
Page 13
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USA 18 May 2024
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