New ambulance agreement with Allen Township looks to speed up emergency response times

The Streator City Council approved an addendum to the agreement with the Allen Township Fire Protection District regarding ambulance services.

The new agreement looks to speed up response times while expanding service coverage in and around Streator.

Currently, Streator’s ambulance service is dispatched only after Allen Township is paged three times, which can cause delays of up to 10 minutes, according to Streator Fire Chief Gary Bird.

The new agreement allows Streator’s ambulance to be dispatched at the same time as the first page, reducing wait times for emergencies. If Allen Township can handle the call, Streator’s ambulance will be canceled.

The addendum also changes the coverage area, removing the village of Ransom and extending service an additional mile north.

Bird recommended the changes, emphasizing they would not affect the ambulance service’s operations but only improve response times and patient care in general.

“Based off what I have seen so far, I don’t see any of these changes impacting us operationally, so I would recommend that we go ahead and pass the addendum,” Bird said during the meeting.

The new provisions will take effect immediately following the council’s approval at Wednesday night’s meeting.