Joel Kingsbury Roth, ground ambulance licensing specialist with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, briefed the 9-1-1 Advisory Task Force on a rule that requires each permitted ambulance to have two different forms of communications and two-way voice contact with a PSAP on or before July 1, 2026.

Joel said the rule’s intent is interoperability for major incidents — mass shootings, large wildfires and other events — so ambulances that are not normally dispatched through 9-1-1 (interfacility transfers, private providers) can communicate with PSAPs during large-scale responses. He said the department is working with a safety subcommittee, CCNC and the task force to develop guidance for private ambulance services that currently lack PSAP access or appropriate radio equipment.

Task force participants asked whether the rule already took effect and how a two-year delay applied. Joel explained the ground ambulance licensing roll-out included staged compliance; some requirements were delayed two years to allow providers and rural areas time to obtain equipment. He told the group that the department cannot compel PSAPs to put private ambulances on their primary dispatch channels, but the department can provide guidance and recommend use of interoperability channels — for example MAC or RETAAC channels — and develop recommended configurations.

County and PSAP representatives flagged several practical concerns: private ambulances that operate statewide or along long transfer corridors would need guidance about which region’s channels to use; some private providers lack radio hardware or expertise to program radios; and PSAPs raised security and operational concerns about granting private providers access to primary dispatch channels. Participants suggested phone-patch or cell-phone redundancy could meet the second-communication requirement in some cases, and several speakers advocated using regional mutual-aid interoperability channels rather than giving privates access to individual PSAP main channels.

Joel said his office has identified roughly 18 private agencies and about 127 ambulances that will need guidance. He invited PSAP leaders to work with the department to identify appropriate radio channels and pragmatic paths for equipment procurement and channel access, and he left his contact information for follow-up. The department intends to refine guidance through ongoing safety-subcommittee work and through outreach with PSAP leaders.