Dresden Fire Chief Weighs in on New Ambulance Law

A new Ohio law allowing ambulances to respond to emergencies with only one paramedic or EMT went into effect Friday. Volunteer fire departments are mostly affected by the big change.

Dresden Fire Department Chief Carl Archer thinks the change will help in emergency situations especially when staffing is low during the day . Most volunteers have jobs when they are called for an emergency run.

"This will allow them to get out with less personnel and get to the scenes quicker," said Archer.

Archer; however, does have one concern and that’s if more personnel are needed in an emergency situation.

"Normally paid departments respond with two person trucks but they have backup whereas the volunteers may not have the backup they need if its a serious situation," said Archer.

Archer says the bill originally stemmed from southeast Ohio because of personnel shortages among rural volunteer fire departments.