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Utica fire chief warns ambulance availability strained, outlines water‑rescue and academy funding needs
Summary
Fire department leaders told council ambulances are frequently unavailable because of hospital turnaround delays and high call volume; the department estimated costs for a water‑rescue capability and described revenues from its training academy.
The fire chief told the council ambulance service is extremely busy and often unavailable because of patient delays at receiving hospitals, pushing other agencies to respond and creating missed calls.
“We probably don't have an ambulance available for around a hundred calls a month, at least,” the fire chief said, describing hour‑plus waits at hospitals on busy days and the resulting backlogs.
Council members asked whether the constraint was ambulances, staffing or both; the chief said it is both and that adding an ambulance would help but not fully eliminate missed calls because of staffing and turnover dynamics.
On water rescue capability for the recently opened harbor, the chief said the department currently lacks a complete capability and estimated the capital and training costs. “A fully equipped and trained…boat is about $35,000. And with the additional equipment cost, there's somewhere in the neighborhood of an additional $60,000. So you'd be looking about a hundred thousand dollars in life saving equipment and then probably somewhere in between 50 and 80,000 to train up enough personnel,” he said, identifying initial training at the State Preparedness Training Center in Oriskany and an initial 32‑hour training per person.
The chief also reported revenue from the fire training academy: about $6,500 per student (largely collected to cover food and related services), classes have been near capacity and the academy brought roughly $200,000 in revenue in a recent year from hosted classes. He said facility constraints limit how many classes the city can run.
Council asked about capital repairs at multiple fire facilities — boilers and roofs — and the chief said many repairs are maintenance to keep buildings functioning rather than upgrades.
Ending: The session left the council with a picture of an EMS system at near capacity, a clear estimate for water‑rescue startup costs, and academy revenue opportunities constrained by facility capacity; capital and staffing needs were flagged for further consideration.
