Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Ems Service Capacity topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Wake County EMS reports staffing gains, new stations and rising transport volumes
Summary
Wake County EMS told the Public Safety Committee it placed 10 ambulances from the 2025 budget into service, reduced vacancies from 22% in FY22 to about 4% by the end of FY25, expects average daily hospital transports of about 281 by the end of FY26 and is expanding stations and logistics to meet growth.
Wake County EMS on July 2025 briefed the Public Safety Committee on a midyear/beginning-of-fiscal-year update, reporting major staffing and capital progress and forecasting continued growth in demand for emergency medical transport.
Jonathan (Wake County EMS) told committee members that 10 ambulances approved in the 2025 budget were manufactured, placed into service and staffed during the past fiscal year. He said recruitment and retention efforts have substantially reduced EMS vacancies, from about a 22% vacancy rate in FY22 to roughly 4% at the end of FY25. "We have a new academy sitting today that has 44 new employees in it," Jonathan said, noting the academy includes both EMTs and paramedics and that an entrant typically takes about 180 days to complete in-class and field training before working independently.
The department presented call-volume forecasts showing rising demand tied to Wake County population growth. Jonathan said the department predicts an average of about 281 patient transports to hospitals per day by the end of fiscal year 2026, with between 380 and 412 emergency responses per day and an expected roughly 5% year-over-year transport increase. He cited Wake County demographers and demographic shifts such as an increasing share of residents age 55 and older and higher Medicare-eligible populations as contributors to higher EMS utilization.
To meet demand, Wake EMS described capital and logistics efforts. The department opened a new three-bay Apex Main substation in May and said a Cary district station has broken ground. The county expects progress on several co-located regional stations through FY27 and FY28. Jonathan emphasized supply-chain and logistics improvements, including inventory-management changes and two new logistics FTEs to kit and restock ambulance supplies to reduce out-of-service time for ambulances.
Committee members asked about geographic demand, equipment supply chains and recruitment. Jonathan said demand modeling uses geographic analyses of where population growth occurs and that co-location with county fire partners is one method used to site new EMS posts. He said equipment purchases have a stable funding stream and that recent county investments focused on warehouse logistics and staffing for supply distribution. On recruitment he said "recruiting has been much better than it was 2 or 3 years ago" and highlighted relationships with Wake Tech, high school pipeline programs and neighboring counties for training pathways.
The department said continued emphasis on retention will accompany hiring as headcount stabilizes, and that EMS will pursue service-configuration changes and improved collaboration with the Raleigh-Wake 911 center to align staffing and geographic coverage with demand.
