Written by our friend Dave. Interested in submitting? Email us at thecityofmorgantown@gmail.com or Tweet at us at wvmorgantown. 

As happens with just about all of us at some point, I was nearby when an elderly lady needed medical assistance. 911 was called immediately and Mon EMS was there within five minutes. The two people (1 man, 1 woman) started treating the woman and preparing her for transporting to the hospital.

About five minutes after Mon EMS was on the scene, Star City VFD came blazing in looking like the Calvary aiming to save the day. A command vehicle, a firetruck, and an ambulance I believe fully loaded with twelve men and women. Judging by their attire, most of them came prepared to fight a fire. With their two people and one ambulance, Mon EMS had the situation completely under control.

I suppose that two of the Star City VFD personnel were needed there to direct traffic around the unneeded vehicles they brought, but the other ten people from Star City stood and watched. The call to 911 was clear as to what had happened and 911 personnel obviously made the correct call to Mon EMS for one ambulance who was there quickly. It appears that Star City picked up on the call on the scanner and tried to get to the scene before Mon EMS.

When they come out like that do they try to get paid for the run? Are they reimbursed somehow through the other ambulance service for “assisting”? Hopefully by just showing up at an emergency like they do, they aren’t able to bill our health, home, and auto insurance companies! 

All they did in this case was make fools of themselves. They sent out three vehicles (a firetruck for a medical call?) and twelve people to assist Mon EMS (one ambulance, two people) for a health issue on private property.

Our emergency response system needs to have all the parts working together, not battling for calls. Wouldn’t Star City VFD looked good if there had been an emergency in Star City while they were out “assisting”? If more ambulances are needed in Mon county, then lets get more in place! Someone at the State or County levels needs to step in and get this situation with Star City VFD and their ambulance service straightened out before they create enough confusion that someone doesn’t get the emergency treatment needed.