The Western Carroll County Ambulance District commission met at the Holiday Island Fire Department on April 16, with Chair Sam Ward, Connie Deaton, Jim Hughes and Judy Thorpe present and Al Selleck absent.
Commissioners heard ambulance reports from representatives of the four county emergency fire departments, Holiday Island, Inspiration Point, Grassy Knob, and Eureka Rural. Fire Chief Nick Samac of ESFD provided a chronological list of emergency/incident events by location for February and March and documented whether transport was utilized. Of the 134 events logged during the two-month period, 84 calls were responded to by the HIFD, 19 by the GKFD, 18 by the Eureka Springs Rural FD, and 13 by the IPFD. Of those events the total services billed was $52,274, and $25,692 was collected.
Handheld radio communications are still posing problems for both the Inspiration Point and Grassy Knob Fire Departments. IPFD Chief Ed Thompson said their radios are not reaching to receive ambulance services. Ward said he provided signal tests in the “Fire West” area and reminded radio users that, “Radios are line-of-sight.”
Ward said if the user is not in the line-of-sight of a tower the signal will not be successful. He said a reason there are poor signals in this area is because the FCC has a rule where no radio antennae can be more than 6.1 meters (20 ft.) over a building roof. He said work is being done to provide a line-of-sight to the Beaver Dam area for improved radio communications, “I hope it will get better when we finish doing what we are doing.” Anticipated improvements are 18-24 months away.
The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 11 at 6 p.m. at the Grassy Knob Fire Station.