Consultants: Hardin County should adopt countywide EMS/fire strategic plan, pursue daytime paid coverage and capital funding

Emergency Services Consulting International presented to the Hardin County Fiscal Court on March 25 the results of a multi-month review of the county’s volunteer fire departments and countywide emergency medical services, concluding the county should develop a single strategic plan, modernize records and dispatch systems, and create targeted daytime paid response to address rising demand and aging equipment.

The consultant, Jeff Stone of Emergency Services Consulting International (ESCI), told the court ESCI reviewed governance, station infrastructure and equipment, and five years of call data from February 2019 through February 2023. “We were brought on by the county to evaluate the emergency services here in Hardin County, specifically the fire departments and the EMS system,” Stone said. He said ESCI used national standards and best practices to benchmark local service delivery.

The consultants found 11 volunteer fire departments serve unincorporated Hardin County (Elizabethtown and Radcliff operate separate career departments) and that most volunteer stations lack living quarters for 24-hour staffing. ESCI’s apparatus assessment rated many fire vehicles as aging or secondhand and identified about 37 pieces of fire…