Madison Fire Department says it needs ninth ambulance

MADISON, Wis. — Madison Fire officials are pushing for a ninth ambulance to be stationed at Fire Station 14, according to a news release.

At a meeting Tuesday, the city of Madison Common Council will vote on a budget amendment that would provide funding for a ninth ambulance, allowing direct medical transport from Station 14’s territory. Station 14 does not have an ambulance of its own and currently relies on surrounding stations for assistance when medical transport is needed.

Throughout the majority of Madison, a 911 call will get an ambulance to the caller in nine minutes 90% of the time. According to the release, a nine-minute response time is only achievable 53% of the time for calls within Station 14’s territory.

“When you’re confronting a health crisis like a traumatic injury, stroke or heart attack, this statistic is simply unacceptable,” the release said.

According to the release, funding a ninth ambulance for the city would vastly improve medical services in emergency scenarios. Between Sept. 15 and Oct. 30, the city had seven instances where it ran out of available medic units.

Officials said the lack of an ambulance for Station 14 causes a domino effect where the responding ambulances aren’t able to serve their assigned territories, causing them to rely on other stations across the city.

Fire Station 14 opened last year to help serve the far southeast areas of Madison.

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