A letter from your Fire Chief

A Letter from Your Fire Chief

As Fire Chief of the Bedford Fire Department for the past twelve years, a member for 44 years and a life-long Bedford resident, I have witnessed significant changes and growth within this community. In 1989, the Bedford Fire Department purchased a 1989 Ford van to operate as our primary ambulance. At that time, this new ambulance was used along with a 1972 International ambulance to adequately handle the emergency medical service (EMS) call volume in town. The population of the town was 12,563 (1990 Census) and there were 498 calls for an ambulance with staff operating at the Basic Life Support level. In addition BFD began to increase its level of service from basic life support to advanced life support (ALS) with the addition of the second ambulance. Advanced life support care provides the highest level of treatment possible outside of an emergency room.  Operating two ambulances was sufficient in 1989 and it worked well for many years to follow, but our town growth and current demand for services has made it a tremendous challenge to efficiently operate with only two ambulances to provide emergency medical services. 

Fast forward to today, and we see that our expansive population growth and escalating demand for emergency services with but 2 ambulances have made it almost impossible to satisfy that critical need. By 2013, the population of Bedford had increased 69% to 22,082 (2013 Est.) and there were 1,706 requests for an ambulance at an Advanced Life Support level (ALS), a 227% increase!  In addition we also experience a daytime influx of 40,000 people occupying the business offices, commercial properties, retail establishments and medical facilities that exist in the community.  It should be noted that providing these services however, has generated over $700,000 from billable emergency medical services which is revenue that goes directly into the Town’s general fund and helps to reduce the tax burden.

The greatest increase in demand has been for ambulance responses in the area of South River Road. Though geographically representing only 8% of the entire town, this area generates 43% of the call volume for both fire and emergency medical services. Of this figure, 70% are ambulance calls.  There are numerous physician's offices, elder care and housing facilities and an urgent care facility in this area. The nursing homes, assisted living residences and Alzheimer’s care units require frequent emergency medical responses from Bedford Fire. This high utilization of our services from these facilities often means there are no ambulances available for town residents. Some of these facilities are generating in excess of one hundred calls each per year. These facilities contribute a substantial amount of tax revenue to the community yet they have very little demand of town services, except those services provided by Bedford Fire. Presently there are proposals before the Town to add several more of these facilities which will further compound the need for additional medical responses.

Residents from these facilities do not send children to the local schools. These buildings are located on private roads and driveways so there is very little impact to the Department of Public Works. Additionally, there are very few requests for services to these facilities from the Bedford Police Department. Unfortunately, in 2013 alone, the Bedford Fire Department could not respond with an ambulance to 129 emergency requests for medical aid due to a lack of an available ambulance and staffing. Of these 129 missed calls, approximately $110,000 of revenue was lost. Mutual aid ambulances were requested from surrounding communities and despite a significant delay ultimately provided the needed care. When mutual aid is called, the response time is considerably increased and revenue generated from that call is lost to the Town.  This delay in treatment and loss of revenue are avoidable provided we are given the necessary resources. The proposed Safety Substation located in the area of South River Road will dramatically decrease our response times in that area of high frequency requests for medical aid. It will also keep the other two ambulances located at the main station on Constitution Drive, available to respond to calls throughout the rest of the town. Further, it will add revenue that will help pay for the substation and services.

You may have heard that the need for a substation has been discussed for more than 20 years. The growth data is overwhelming and public safety must be our top priority. I encourage you to vote on March 11th.

Thank you,

Scott Wiggin, Fire Chief

Bedford, NH

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This is a repost of a letter that was sent to the local media outlets.  With the resent change in the patch.com, I am reposting this as it was not picked up as a story.  This is me as an individual making this post and not in any official capacity related to my employment.