After voters reject levy, South Lane Fire reduces ambulance service

South Lane County Fire & Rescue has reduced to one staffed ambulance daily and may cease providing ambulance service entirely. 

The fire district is partnering with a private ambulance company to help provide emergency medical services. The agency made the changes, which were effective July 1, following the failure of a May 19 ballot measure asking voters to double the district’s levy rate. 

The district provides fire and emergency medical services to residents of Cottage Grove, Creswell and the surrounding area, including the unincorporated communities of Saginaw and Walker. 

Fire district officials had said the increased funding would pay for six additional firefighter-paramedics to cover overlapping emergency calls. Understaffing has led to long waits for ambulances and limited fire response, district officials said.

Nearly 60 percent of voters rejected the May ballot measure. Voters rejected the same increase by a narrower margin last November.

District reducing ambulance service in order to staff fire engine

The fire district has reduced to one ambulance during times of minimum staffing, when five people are working, Deputy Chief Justin Baird told Lookout Eugene-Springfield. The ambulance will rotate between Cottage Grove and Creswell stations every other day.

Baird said the district has not reduced staff.

“We’re just trying to make sure that we always have an engine staffed all the time in our district, because in the past when we’ve been running multiple medical calls, we’ve dumped … all of our personnel onto our ambulances, leaving potentially just one person in the district to staff an engine, which is unsafe,” he said. 

Baird said the district will likely be at minimum staffing through most of the summer because four employees recently left the district. The agency is hiring for those positions, he said.

“If we’re at full staffing, which would be seven crew per shift, we will staff two ambulances, as long as we keep an engine in service for fire response,” Baird said.

The fire district covers 132 square miles and serves about 25,000 residents. The agency also serves a county-designated ambulance service area, which is about 800 square miles and includes more than 33,000 people. The roughly 8,000 residents who live outside the fire district but within the ambulance service area do not pay taxes to South Lane Fire.

Baird said the district’s tax covers fire service, “and so we want to guarantee our district that they have a fire engine always in service and not that we have multiple medic units out of the area.”

The district entered into a partnership with Mid-Valley Ambulance for lower-urgency calls and hospital transfers and to provide a second ambulance on minimum staffing days. That partnership reduces the district’s billable ambulance revenue, but also takes stress off staff by handling some of the call volume, Baird said. The district averages 15 calls per day.

The district’s only ambulance will stay inside the fire district boundary, and Mid-Valley Ambulance will respond in the ambulance service area outside the fire district boundaries, according to information on the district’s website about service cuts.

“For some of the lower acuity calls, they may be waiting a little bit longer for ambulances,” Baird said.

In 2025, about 85% of South Lane Fire’s calls were for ambulances, according to the fire chief.

As part of the service cuts, the district said it may not be available for response to public assistance calls for lifting and medical alarms. The agency also will not be available for special event standbys. Nonemergency services will not be available, including blood pressure checks. 

Ambulance service usage rates “will have to be significantly increased,” the website states. 

“That is something that our board of directors will decide on, what that rate comes out to, after researching some of the data and some of the other local agencies and what they’re charging,” Baird said.

Fire station staffing will remain the same, Baird said. The fire engine will be staffed on a daily rotating basis between the Cottage Grove and Creswell fire stations.

District says cutting ambulances entirely would affect insurance rates

The district may cease providing ambulance service entirely, the website states. If that happens, the district said it may move all response staffing to the Saginaw Fire Station and stop 24/7 staffing at the Cottage Grove and Creswell fire stations. 

“That would be something further down the road, but that’s something we have to plan for if our levy doesn’t get renewed in the future,” Baird said.

The district would reduce staffing, which would likely affect its Insurance Services Office Public Protection Classification rating, which reflects the effectiveness of local fire protection services, and would in turn increase property owner insurance premiums, the district said.

“If our levy doesn’t get renewed or increased to increase our staffing to keep up with service demand, we’re going to have to look at potentially either downsizing our ambulance service area, and that’s a process through the county, or potentially just getting out of the business of ambulance service altogether,” Baird said.

He said the board of directors will make that decision based on data from staff.

The district’s current levy remains in effect until it expires in June 2028. Baird said it will be up to the board to decide whether to seek a levy again and at what rate. 

“Going forward, we’re going to be operating on this new staffing model, and we’re going to continue to provide the service that we can with the funds that we have and the personnel that we have and continue to provide the best service we can,” Baird said. 

South Lane is not the only fire district making cuts after voters rejected a levy increase in May. Lane Fire Authority took a second peak-hour ambulance out of service after removing one earlier this year.

The fire authority, which cut multiple positions and renegotiated the union’s labor agreement, is also not funding additional staffing for the summer wildfire season like it has in previous years. 

Lucas Hellberg contributed to this report.