BY SCOTT LEFFLER
scott.leffler@eastniagarapost.com

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The Lockport Fire Board voted this evening to cease operations of a city-provided ambulance service.

The board decision effectively splits off the ambulance service from the Lockport Fire Department and puts into motion a plan to offer city ambulance rights to an outside provider.

Fire Board President Pete Robinson said before the vote that the city is "at a crossroads."

"The city needs to make a decision of whether we're going to fight fires or be an ambulance service," he said. "We can't do both."

Mayor Anne McCaffrey cited financial concerns as the reason to cease city ambulance services.

"This is a decision that the Fire Board had to make based on the city's serious fiscal condition," she said in a written statement following the vote. "Compounding the problem is the fact that the city's two ambulances will need to be replaced in the coming year or two at the cost of approximately $300,000."

"Up until now, Lockport has been one of the only city municipalities in Western New York to offer ambulance service with paid city employees," McCaffrey said, noting that the cities of Buffalo, Niagara Falls and North Tonawanda all have private ambulance services.

"At this point, the city will issue an RFQ (Request for Qualifications) for a private for-profit ambulance company to perform ambulance service," McCaffrey's statement said. "This will be at no cost to city residents."

McCaffrey said there are currently two potential providers for ambulance service within the city: Rural Metro and Twin City.

"We anticipate that after selection of an ambulance provider, implementation of private ambulance service may commence on or about Sept. 1. We will continue to keep citizens advised as the process unfolds," McCaffrey said.

Fire Board member Mark Provenzano cast the lone dissenting vote, saying he was concerned about the level and speed of care that an outside service might provide.

"Would it be EMTs? Would it be paramedics?" he asked, noting the the answers to those questions aren't yet known.

Alderman Pat Schrader attempted to quash any concerns, though, saying, "We are not deserting the city. The city is safe."

Kevin Pratt, president of the Lockport firefighters union, Local 963, said using a private firm for ambulance calls could mean serious delays, however — especially if there are multiple calls at once.

"It's not lucrative for private services to do 911 calls," he said, so "they'll have one ambulance in the area and when that one's tied up, you're looking for anywhere from nine, 15, 45 minutes" for a second ambulance to be available in the city. ... "so you're looking at a delay."

Pratt added that the ambulance service brings in about $650,000 annually, meaning doing away with the service will result in a loss of revenue for the city.

He figures the city will attempt to recoup that loss by lowering minimum manning of the fire department. "I'm sure they're going to do something with the manning."

Pratt said the mood in the fire department is "pretty down right now. But it's been this way for a while."

Local 963 and the city have been at odds all year, taking each other to court numerous times. Most recently, the city had attempted to reduce the minimum manning level of the department to seven from nine earlier this year. Local 963 responded by filing a grievance. But the city fought the grievance and the matter was sent to New York State Supreme Court where Court Justice Ralph A. Boniello III ruled that the city was within its rights to "adjust staffing levels to account for changes in population, technology, apparatus or other relevant circumstances."

Since that ruling, however, the city has yet to cut minimum manning levels.

Pratt expects that decision to come soon.

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