If you see a Lewis County Fire District 15 ambulance driving around the Napavine area, it’s not due to Winlock medical personnel straying outside of their response area.
Rather, District 15 in Winlock is loaning one of its spare ambulance units to Lewis County Fire District 5 in Napavine, which has two of its three ambulances out of service due to engine issues.
“In the past three days, your fire department has lost engines in two of their three ambulances. We have gone from three units in service to one remaining unit, our oldest one,” Interim Fire Chief Gregg Peterson said in a Facebook post to a Napavine community forum on June 13, which was re-posted to District 5’s page on Tuesday.
“Should we have overlapping 911 calls, which happens very often here, do not be surprised if you see units from other communities coming to your assistance to perform transports,” Peterson wrote, adding, “Being one of the busiest departments in the county, and over 70% of our 911 calls being medical, we subject these units to a very busy life. We will do our best to get fully up and running ASAP.”
The District 15 engine will remain with District 5, staffed by District 5 personnel, until at least one of its broken ambulances is back in service, according to Peterson.
Between June 10 and June 16, District 5 responded to 17 emergency medical service (EMS) calls and five other calls, for a total of 24 responses, including two instances where Napavine crews provided mutual aid and four times where District 5 received mutual aid.
The district’s total call volume for the year is up to 551 calls, according to District 5.
