Lake County firefighters union, county commissioner discuss EMS future

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. - Some first responders in Lake County say their services are hurt by county leadership's lack of investment. 

Jason Graham, Lake County Firefighters union president, said the group feels ignored by county leaders and overworked. Graham reviewed those concerns with Lake County Commissioner Leslie Campione on Thursday morning.

Both sides told FOX 35 they were pleased with the morning meeting.

At the center of the union's concerns is a debate over how many ambulances the county needs to be staffed at any given time. Graham said Lake County Fire Rescue currently runs 20 ambulances during the day and 17 overnight.

"For a county over 410,000 citizens, that's not sufficient," Graham said. "We saw the results of that the other day when we saw an hour and 22-minute wait for an ambulance to get on the scene for a call."

Graham said that the long wait was an extreme example.

"But it's not uncommon for 40, 45 minutes," Graham said. "That's very, very common for ambulances."

FOX 35 News reached out to all five county commissioners about union concerns this week.

Campione was the only one to respond to our interview requests with a statement.

"I appreciated the chance to hear their perspective about operational changes they feel would alleviate workload concerns…," Campione said. "I’m optimistic that we can move forward amicably after today’s discussion…"

The union is calling for the hiring of 18 new staff members.

The county says it's actively recruiting, and is even offering paramedics an $8,000 dollar signing bonus.

Graham said the workload on first responders in the meantime is piling up.

"It is extremely taxing on us in the field, especially if you're somebody that's been working on ambulances for 24 hours straight, and then you plan to go home the next day, and there's nobody to take that spot, so you may end up working another 24 hours," Graham said.

The union calls for a return to 24-hour shifts instead of the current 12. Graham said that would allow for more ambulances on county roads while keeping staff increases low. 

The county's contract with the union expires in October.