Polk County commissioners carve up Dallas Fire & EMS ambulance service

Polk County commissioners Wednesday decided to split the ambulance service area of the Dallas Fire & EMS Department and Southwest Polk County Fire District, giving Southwest Polk about 15 miles of Highway 22 and a significant portion north of it, while Dallas retains the southern portion of the area.

The decision means Dallas Fire & EMS should have enough calls so that it can afford to continue to have three full-time ambulances, while Southwest Polk — which covers about 120 square miles with fire service around the city — should get enough calls that it can continue what it started two years ago.

The commissioners approved areas that county staff recommended, which is close to the preferred option that Dallas presented last month.

For the past 18 months, the fire districts and Polk County officials tried to figure out how to carve up which department responds to calls for ambulances.

“There is no right answer,” Polk County Administrative Officer Greg Hansen said.

Dallas’ area will still include the area that includes Southwest Polk’s Bridgeport station on Kings Valley Highway between Dallas and Falls City.

“Dallas is happy with the decision that the board of county commissioner made,” Dallas City Manager Brian Latta said. “I think they’re looking out for the best interests of the citizens of the county and Dallas will be able to respond appropriately with this map.”

But it means many people who live outside Dallas and pay taxes into the Southwest Polk fire district, including a bond and levy that paid for the ambulance service, still will have ambulance coverage from Dallas.

"They do have levy dollars that are dedicated toward that goal,” Commissioner Craig Pope said. “And they are a viable secondary for Dallas and we can certainly have some conversations going forward.”

Pope said the decision came after significant compromise on the part of Dallas, which had covered the entire area with ambulance service for decades when Southwest Polk didn’t offer ambulance service.

“There’s still a lot of dust in the air right now,” he said. “We’ll see how it settles. They’re also going to argue with each other here about little nuances on the map. That’s fine, they can argue about it, but as far as I’m concerned, the map is set. And when we set an order, that’s the line.”

Southwest Polk also was seeking to serve a large part of their fire district in the south around Falls City with ambulance service in the new districts.

The last time the ambulance service maps in Polk County were altered was in 1985. Commissioner Jeremy Gordon said he expects that the commissioners will revisit the decision in a year.

In presentations, Dallas had said that if too much of its ambulance service area was cut, that the city could lose enough funding that it wouldn’t be able to keep its three full-time ambulances in service.

Southwest Polk's ambulance service added needed ambulance capacity in the county.

Southwest Polk started ambulance service in 2021 and despite not having a service area, is estimated to answer about 1,300 calls this year and regularly transports people from hospitals outside the county. Dallas had more than 4,000 ambulance calls in 2022.

“Dallas and Southwest Polk both wanted to make sure that people in the area of Polk County are served by ambulance service. That’s a common goal,” Latta said.

"Drawing the lines on the map was really a secondary conversation to that goal," he said. "This map will reflect and represent a good compromise, allow Southwest to provide good service, allow Dallas to continue to provide the good service we provide. I think it’s beneficial to the county.”

Bill Poehler covers Marion and Polk County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him at bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Dallas ambulance service area carved up by Polk County