Accident Victim Waits Over An Hour For Ambulance

Chris Coray, Reporter

Rich Civic Times

GARDEN CITY, Utah.  January 15, 2001.  The Garden City Fire District board held its monthly meeting on January 15.  Present were board members Wakefield, England, House, and Knight.  Howard Pope was absent.

After waiting one hour and twenty minutes , an accident victim on U.S. 89 exactly  100 yards inside Cache County on December 28 was finally taken to the hospital by the ambulance coming from Logan . That made the main item of discussion in the meeting the continuing effort to reach an agreement whereby the fire department would be able to respond automatically to an injury/incident inside Cache County.  In a strange coincidence there was an accident John Nichol, Rich County Deputy was the first person on the scene and provided first responder treatment.  The injured person initially did not want ambulance transport but a fairly dramatic increase in back pain resulted in an ambulance coming from Logan. 

Chief Wahlberg indicated that in a meeting held January 13^th with Cache County about automatic responses he learned that the Cache EMS office wants Rich county’s fire department designated as a “Quick Response Unit” prior to entering into an automatic response agreement.  This designation has many requirements and is made by the state department of medical services.  A medical control person (physician) is needed, and letters of support from the Rich County Commission and the local EMS organization.  It has been reported before and is here repeated that this kind of agreement would involve only the fire department, not the local EMS organization.  The latter two letters referred to above are problematic, however.  See a companion article on the recent adverse legal judgment rendered by the Idaho Supreme Court against the Rich County Sheriff’s Office.  The judgment rendered makes increased cross border cooperation less likely. (Editorial Comment:  the current poisonous environment between states/counties makes citizens the losers with respect to completely feasible cooperative public safety responses.)

Walberg reported on what he called a successful winter training school.  6 firefighters attended.  Additionally, some new personal protective gear has been obtained following earlier approval.  When asked, the chief said that currently there are approximately 20 firefighters with red cards, allowing fire suppression in the forest interface.

County Nervous About  Incurring Liability Because Of Rich/Idaho Case

In 1999 there was an accident resulting from a law enforcement pursuit of a driver that began in Rich County, went through parts of Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho before resulting in injury to a third party in Idaho.  After many years of legal suits and appeals the Idaho Supreme Court found in 2012 that the Rich County Sheriff’s office partially responsible (30%) for the damages.  The funds awarded by the court to the plaintiff from Rich County exceeded 1.1 million dollars.

In conversation this past week with Becky Peart, Rich County Clerk/Auditor, she indicated that to the best of her knowledge that the entire amount owed by Rich County was paid from an in-force insurance policy, and that no taxpayer funds were used.  She did not know the source of funds or amount of the legal fees awarded by the Idaho court to the plaintiff against Rich County.  The case is now over.