Fire Destroys an Ambulance

(Monday, April 6, 2009 5:30 pm by Kaci Christian, FOX23.com, Tulsa OK) – A local emergency medical service loses two ambulances to a weekend fire. The fire that destroyed one ambulance and damaged another appears to be accidental. It started at the Oologah-Talala Emergency Medical Services (OTEMS) district early Sunday. That district covers a large rural area in Rogers County. FOX 23’s Kaci Christian tells us what will happen when people call 911. She joins us with the developing story.
 
“Before Sunday morning, the Oologah-Talala OTEMS ambulance service had four ambulances, two of which were backups and not routinely used,” reports FOX 23’s Kaci Christian, “but tonight, there are only two—one at station 1 and one at station 2. Now people are worried about what will happen if they need a backup ambulance.”
 
“With 18,000 people, I mean, if two things happen, y’know, you can’t—that ambulance can’t be in two places at once,” says Josh Boyles.
 
With just one ambulance apiece at the two stations, one in historic downtown Oologah, and the other in the eastern part of the coverage area, Boyles wonders what will happen if something goes wrong with one of the vehicles. He’s just one of the 18,000 residents served by OTENS. He says he’s concerned by the permanent loss of one ambulance, consumed in the fire, and a second ambulance damaged by smoke. And there’s more devastation from the fire that insurance investigators believe was accidental.
 
“There is smoke damage everywhere,” says John M. Wylie, II, spokesperson for the OTEMS ambulance service. “Our phone system is out, part of our power system is out. Obviously, you saw in the bay, there is some fire damage out there.”
 
But OTEMS emergency responders say response times in the 200-mile area covered by the ambulance service won’t be affected. That’s because the two ambulances affected were only used if the two main units had mechanical problems.