Swan Valley Fire District wants EMS contract back

Swan Valley Fire District wants to take its emergency services back almost a year after the Bonnville County Commissioners decided the Idaho Falls Fire Department would provide EMS to that area.

Friday Swan Valley Fire Chief Dean Philbrick gave his $438,000 EMS budget proposal to the county commissioners.

Swan Valley’s proposal said its fire district would provide the most effective service to the area citing things like it has the resources and personnel, and their people know the area best.

If Swan Valley were to get the EMS contract, it would mean there would be some changes in the IFFD, something the Idaho Falls Fire Chief Dave Hanneman said would be devastating.

“We’d have to lay off the 10 paramedics we’ve already hired and not hire anymore,” he said. “So we asked the commissioners not to do that, because they’re the ones who told us to hire all these people. And it’s taken several months to hire them and get them trained as paramedics and then to turn around and let them go isn’t really fair to everybody.”

Hanneman said if Swan Valley gets the EMS contract, IFFD would lose the ambulance it gained from the merger. He also said the department would not be able to get another ambulence it’s proposing in their new budget, something he said is needed because calls keep increasing.

The Swan Valley Fire Chief declined to comment at this time, saying he wanted to wait until all of this was resolved.

The next county commission meeting on this issue will be on July 5 .