Bonner County, Spirit Lake Fire District reach accord

SANDPOINT - Bonner County has reached an accord with the Spirit Lake Fire District concerning emergency medical response in the southwestern portion of the county.

Under the agreement, Spirit Lake Fire will continue to respond to EMS calls in southern Bonner County and receive 75 percent reimbursement from the county for medical equipment and supplies, said Bonner EMS spokesman Bob Abbott. Spirit Lake will still collect its billings from EMS calls in Bonner County and receive 100-percent reimbursement on mileage.

The agreement was reached Tuesday, after Bonner EMS Chief Rob Wakeley met with Spirit Lake Fire officials, Abbott said.

Bonner County advised Kootenai County EMS it would not renew its contract with the agency and planned to expanded its own paramedic-level response in the U.S. Highway 95 and Highway 41 corridors.

To accomplish the goal, the county planned to install a county paramedic at the Sagle Fire District to help cover U.S. 95 South and expand Newport Ambulance's coverage in the Highway 41 corridor, an area that is being serviced by Spirit Lake Fire.

The latter move frayed the nerves of residents in the Blanchard area, who argued response would be quicker from Spirit Lake than from Newport. Some also believed the county would prevent Spirit Lake from responding to EMS calls in Bonner County altogether, an allegation that county commissioners flatly disputed.

As much as 75 percent of Spirit Lake's district is in Bonner County and the county has no authority to stop Spirit Lake from responding to calls within its bounds.

Under the revised plan, Spirit Lake and Newport would respond to paramedic-level calls depending where the call is and who's the closest.

Abbott said the respective response areas will be penciled out in the next few weeks.

"That, hopefully, should be the easy part of this. But I think the hard part's done," said Abbott.