Natomas Hopeful Second Ambulance Could Be Coming Soon
NATOMAS (CBS13) — While there are 13 ambulances that serve Sacramento, only one serves Natomas, and the city councilwoman who represents the area wants to change that.
Chris Andrew of Sacramento's firefighters union says the fire department's goal is to have an ambulance at the scene of life-threatening calls in eight minutes or less. But with one ambulance serving 100,000 Natomas residents, that doesn't always happen.
"What it ultimately does is increases response time," he said.
The city wasn't able to deliver data on the response times for Medic 43.
The firefighters union says if Medic 43 is busy and there's another emergency in Natomas, a station from a surrounding city responds, as far as Oak Park.
"I think it's an urgent public safety issue," said Sacramento City Councilwoman Angelique Ashby.
She says the money's already been approved for a second ambulance through Measure U, but now it's up to the city manager to approve it.
"The council approved ambulances to be added, but the city manager has not brought them online, so this is me asking where are these ambulances?" she said.
With construction set to begin for the first time since a building moratorium was put in place in 2008 due to levee concerns, having proper coverage becomes a bigger issue.
The City Council will review the fire budget at Tuesday's City Council meeting.
