City reports 1st-year learning curve with fire-based EMS

Leaders say local volunteers, partnerships key to success

  • Aurora Fire Chief Tom Cox, left, and EMS Captain Brent Dethlefs stand by one of the city’s four ambulances, used as part of the new fire-based emergency medical service.
    Aurora Fire Chief Tom Cox, left, and EMS Captain Brent Dethlefs stand by one of the city’s four ambulances, used as part of the new fire-based emergency medical service.
  • EMS Captain Brent Dethlefs demonstrates one of the new powerload cots, a piece of equipment which allows emergency personnel to load and unload patients using a rail system that significantly reduces the weight factor.
    EMS Captain Brent Dethlefs demonstrates one of the new powerload cots, a piece of equipment which allows emergency personnel to load and unload patients using a rail system that significantly reduces the weight factor.

    One year after taking over what had been a county owned and operated ambulance service, city leaders say it was the right decision to launch a fire-based EMS unit, though admitting that they faced an accelerated learning curve in the midst of a global pandemic. City-paid personnel began responding to emergency ambulance calls on June 1, 2019. County commissioners had voted in early 2018 to discon…