Evansville Fire Department taking over ambulance response
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - The City of Evansville and Evansville Fire Department are held a news conference Tuesday.
Leaders announced that Evansville Fire Department is taking over ambulance response.
They hope to have the transition complete on July 1, 2026.
Leaders say the start-up costs will be about $7 million, but they say the costs are expected to be paid back after two years.
They say the costs for patients will be about 25% lower and response times will be faster.
“What the citizens are going to see first and foremost is prompt response times with high levels of care,” says Chief Tony Knight. “Our people that we have currently working for us are dedicated. They put a lot of effort into their skills, that’s not going to be any different for our set of circumstances for our ambulance staff.”
Knight says the fire department will be hiring 47 new staff members and purchasing 11 new ambulances.
Officials say the money will be coming from the Casino Gaming Capital Fund. By 2028, officials estimate the city-run ambulance service will be generating between three and four million dollars yearly.
“It comes after careful evaluation of both the financial implications of this decision and of the fire department’s ability to provide fast, reliable, and professional service that Evansville residents expect every, single day,” says Evansville Mayor Stephanie Terry.
AMR officials shared their message to employees with us saying they received only last-minute notice about the change. Here’s a portion of that message:
“Dear AMR Evansville employees,
Like many of you, we heard today that the City of Evansville and the Evansville Fire Department held a news conference to announce that Evansville FD will take over EMS response by July 1 of next year (2026).
Many Questions Remain
I’m sorry that you learned about this through local news, and not from us. We learned of the announcement right before you did and have a lot of questions about what was shared. We can’t verify claims like their ability to lower charges and shorten response times.
In fact, we’ll encourage the public to ask deeper questions about how the funding will work; a handful of governments that have announced similar plans depend on federal matching dollars to succeed—funding which is now very much in question. In other scenarios, they ask citizens to fund these services through their tax dollars instead of directly paying for the care they receive. Either way, we have lots of questions but not many answers at this point."
City officials say the contract that is ending with AMR only applies to those who are Evansville city residents, and the contract AMR holds with Vanderburgh County is separate.
As of now, there will be no changes to EMS services for county residents.
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