Lincoln Fire and Rescue not hitting ambulance response time goals - KOLN

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - When there’s a medical emergency, Lincoln Fire and Rescue sends a fire engine, then an ambulance. They have a goal of getting that ambulance to the scene in eight minutes or less 90% of the time.

In 2020, they achieved that 81% of the time. Between 2016 and 2020, the department reached that goal between 80 and 82% of the time.

“We’re concerned about these times but our biggest concern is on the outcomes,” Acting Chief Dave Engler said. “While some of these may be outside our goal, our outcomes are positive.”

The ambulance response times didn’t change in 2020, despite four new stations opening in the last two years. Stations 15 and 16 are entirely new and 10 and 12 were existing stations, but relocated to a better location for the city.

10/11 NOW wanted to know why these new stations, which cost the city $24 million, didn’t improve the ambulance response times.

Engler said its because those new stations didn’t come with new ambulances.

“Our new stations are just a single engine company,” Engler said. “Before we opened new stations we were running seven medic units, today we are running seven medic units.”

Engler said its possible the city may need more ambulances, but what will make the biggest difference in times is a new computer-aided dispatch system coming this spring.

“It’s going to get the closest unit to the scene,” Engler said. “Right now we don’t operate that way, we just get what we hope is the closest unit.”

The purchase of that program was also part of the sales tax increase; it has a price tag of just under $12 million. Engler said it will help the city better determine where to put future resources, like a new ambulance if necessary.

The Lincoln Fire Department also has goals set for getting fire engines to scenes, which they said has a more direct impact on outcomes. Their goal is to have trucks to scenes in seven minutes or less 90% of the time. In 2019, they achieved that goal 79% of the time. They don’t have numbers for 2020, but said they’ve seen some improvements in responses since opening new stations. Engler said it will likely take another year to have solid data on the impact.

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Lincoln Fire and Rescue not hitting ambulance response time goals - KOLN
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