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Warwick EMS warns mutual-aid gaps are straining local coverage
Summary
Rob Walker, chief and executive director of Warwick Community Ambulance Association, told Lititz Borough Council that routine mutual‑aid requests have surged, citing 216 outside responses since March 1 and saying Pennsylvania rules require available ambulances to accept dispatches.
Rob Walker, chief and executive director of Warwick Community Ambulance Association, told Lititz Borough Council on June 24 that growing mutual‑aid demands have put the service under sustained strain and reduced local coverage.
Walker said the association responds to just over 5,000 calls annually with about 50 employees and that since March 1 his crews have answered 216 calls outside their primary service area. “We physically responded as of today to 216 of them,” he said, adding that roughly 70 of those outside calls resulted in patient transports that at times last hours and remove an ambulance from its home district.
The issue matters because Pennsylvania law limits when an EMS provider may decline a dispatch, Walker said. “We can’t say no ever, and that’s part of PA Code Title 28, Chapter 10.27,” he said, summarizing the requirement that staffed, operational ambulances must respond to dispatches from the primary public safety answering point.
Walker described a cascading coverage pattern in Lancaster County: when one agency is busy, the next available unit is dispatched, often moving coverage progressively farther from the originating call. He listed nearby jurisdictions his service covers as Warwick Township, Lititz Borough, Elizabeth and Clay Townships and said crews have been asked into neighboring areas including Penn Township, Manheim Township and Lancaster City.
Council members asked whether the pattern mirrored COVID-era overload and whether counties can enforce staffing. Walker said the current problem is deployment and staffing, not hospital turnarounds, and that county government has limited direct authority over municipal EMS arrangements. He said the Lancaster County EMS Council, Lancaster Countywide Communications and the state Bureau of EMS are aware and working on solutions.
Walker described steps Warwick EMS has taken: adding a fifth ambulance to keep four in service, hiring more EMTs, obtaining accreditation to train staff locally and changing deployment based on data. He said those measures help but are not a long‑term fix. “But the way things are right now is not sustainable. This is a very broken system,” he said.
Council members and one audience question pressed on accountability and finances. Walker said municipalities must designate a primary EMS provider under the EMS Act but that beyond designation there is little statutory leverage over service levels. He also said Warwick EMS is not tax supported and is not made whole when it provides mutual aid; subscription programs and municipal fees defray only a portion of operating costs.
No formal action was taken by the council. Walker said he was not requesting immediate funding from the borough at the meeting but indicated Warwick EMS may return to discuss longer‑term funding or regional solutions with WESC (the local emergency services committee).
The council received the presentation and asked staff to keep the matter on future agendas for information and potential follow‑up with regional partners.
