Irondale adopts fee for non‑emergent 'lift assist' responses at licensed care facilities

The Irondale City Council adopted ordinance 2026‑20 on May 20 authorizing the city to charge a fee for cost recovery when fire personnel respond to non‑emergent assist calls at Alabama‑licensed assisted living, residential care and nursing facilities.

Chief McDaniel (S11) told the council these responses typically involve transporting or lifting non‑injured residents who are capable of being assisted by facility staff, and that the department frequently sends a fire engine for such calls. "These these are the places where they have people that could pick people up that are not injured, that fall...there's perfectly capable people that can do that at those facilities," he said, clarifying that the ordinance is intended to recover costs for facility responses and does not apply when firefighters respond to private residences for lift assists.

Councilmembers asked about call frequency and logistics. Chief McDaniel said such non‑emergent assists occur multiple times per week — sometimes two or three times a day and at least once every other day — and that the proposed program would include training, cooler units for the EMS grant separately discussed, and protocols with UAB for rotating blood products in a different grant item.

Because this is an ordinance, it remained on the regular agenda for consideration and the council later moved, suspended rules and adopted the ordinance; roll call recorded unanimous approval. The ordinance directs city staff to implement a cost‑recovery fee schedule for the specified assisted‑living responses, while preserving usual emergency response protocols for private residences (no fee).

The adoption formalizes a cost‑recovery approach for non‑emergent lift assists at certain licensed facilities; implementation details and the fee schedule will be developed by staff consistent with city code and presented to council as required.