Those in local unincorporated areas will soon have extended access to emergency medical services.
Dallas County entered a new agreement Tuesday that will provide ambulance services to Dallas County’s unincorporated areas.
The Dallas County Commissioner’s Court opted to enter this new agreement with Medical Jets International during its latest meeting.
Unincorporated areas are spaces of land not under the governance of a municipality. Currently, only five of the 50 states have unincorporated lands, such as Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, according to Vittana.
While communities in these areas may not be subject to regulation as much as incorporated areas, they often lack quick access to or lack emergency service support from either ambulance, police, or fire officials.
The commissioner’s court had previously extended coverage for these areas in February until May for the Dallas County Fire Marshal’s Office, according to official documents. The previous agreements dating back to 2018 had been one-year service options.
Dallas County Fire & Rescue (DCFR) already provides service to communities in these unincorporated sections. However, this new agreement will function as a “county-wide ambulance” service to cover these areas for the next five years.
Service will include the approximately 79 square mile area in the southeastern portion of Dallas County and will be conducted in cooperation with other nearby municipalities.
“Dallas County Fire Rescue responds to approximately 685 calls per year with approximately 85 percent of the calls being emergency medical service (EMS) calls,” said county officials in the court order. “Transportation services were rendered 223 times in fiscal year 2020, 230 times in fiscal year 2021, and 327 times in fiscal year 2022, whereas the remaining EMS calls did not require transportation,” they continued.
This new service agreement will have a total cost of $1,317,000.
Coverage for these communities will expire on May 15, 2028.
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