Call 911, wait longer in Pinellas County? | News

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- No one wants to wait when dialing 911 for help, but Pinellas County faces a tough decision with its emergency services: raise taxes, cut services or possibly make people wait longer in an emergency.

The main proposal in front of the Pinellas County Commission would end a private ambulance service used county-wide and use firefighters to transport patients to the hospital.

It's a practice 70 percent of Florida counties use, but St. Petersburg leaders say that change could cost county residents more than money.

St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster and Fire Chief James Dean Large say they want Pinellas County to find a way to continue paying the city more than $12 million every year to operate its top-notch emergency medical response services. However, Pinellas County administrator Bob LaSala supports a plan to pay all cities equally, around $5 million per year, but St. Pete says they can't operate at that level.

Pinellas commissioners are also considering ending the private ambulance service, which transports patients to the hospital after local fire crews act as first responders. St. Pete leaders believe that could add one minute or more to the average response time.

Paramedics told 10 News that, in some cases, the response times could double if fire crews stay tied up for an hour or more on one call transporting patients to the hospital.

Still, county leaders say more EMTs could be hired to man more trucks and offset the changes.

10 News Investigator Mike Deeson compared the cost of the current system with the cost of the proposed changes.

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Pinellas County commissioners and St. Pete leaders will meet on Monday to discuss a compromise.