By Audrey Korte
The Chippewa Herald
CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. —Chippewa Falls has beefed up its rosters of first responders and purchased new life-saving equipment for city residents as the area experiences rapid growth while grappling with the recent closures of two hospitals and multiple health clinics.
Since it began operations in 1990, the Chippewa Falls Fire and Emergency Services Department has reported a more than 500% increase in calls. In the last 10 months the department has faced numerous challenges as its closest hospital, HSHS St. Joseph’s, closed.
To handle the call increases and increased transport distance to hospitals, the city purchased a new fire truck and ambulance and is in the process of updating other ambulances in circulation.
Fire Chief Jason Thom said the new $800,000 fire truck should “tentatively be ready by the end of October.”
“The price we’ve been looking for over the last few years did not happen,” Thom said. “We’ve been, you know, talking about it and every year, the price keeps going up. So it’s one of those things, at some point you have to do it.”
Fire trucks typically have about a 20 to 25-year lifespan. The new truck will replace a 1992 engine.
“I think it’s our goal, our continued goal to make sure that our equipment meets the needs of the community. Some of these fire trucks are suddenly 30 years old, so it’s time to replace them,” Mayor Greg Hoffman said Tuesday.
The new truck will have a 1,500-gallon-per-minute pump, Thom said.
“It’s going to be comparable to the truck we’re replacing, other than, it’s obviously considerably newer,” he said. “So, you know, a lot more technology on it; a safer piece of equipment to be operating down the road.”
The 1992 truck will be taken out of circulation once the new one arrives. The department will continue using its 2002 and 2009 fire engines as well.
Thom said the truck features a Darley pump, but was not manufactured by the local company.
Darley is a manufacturer and supplier of pumps for use with firefighting and many other applications with manufacturing, engineering and research and development operations in Chippewa Falls.
The city is also getting a new ambulance, which is being built now.
“We’re hopefully going to take delivery of a new ambulance here within the next month,” Thom said on Sept. 19 . “And then we have two more ambulances slated for next year. One is the referendum ambulance, and then the other one is another remount.”
By year’s end the department will have five ambulances.
First responder referendum
These new vehicles and updates to existing ones are an indication of the city’s commitment to safety and its support for first responders, officials say. Chippewa Falls residents approved a $1.3 million first responder referendum in November 2022.
Taxpayers agreed to exceed the levy limit by $1.2 million per year starting in January 2023 so the city could hire three additional firefighters and emergency services personnel and one additional swing shift police officer.
The money has also provided funding for a pay bump for current first responders.
The ambulance upgrades are part of the city’s vehicle replacement plan, Thom said.
“They’ll take our ambulance, they take the box off. They completely redo it, put all new components in it, new paint and set it on a brand new chassis,” Thom said.
Chippewa Falls Mayor Greg Hoffman said the city is doing what it can to help the Chippewa Falls Fire and Emergency Services Department.
“It’s the community, the council and everyone here are very supportive for these needs,” Hoffman said. “Same way with ambulances, you know, we need to make sure that we have what is necessary to save lives. I want them to pull up with an ambulance and not have to hang out someone’s personal van to load me up to go to the hospital.”
Rising demands after HSHS closures
After the HSHS St. Joseph’s and HSHS Sacred Heart hospitals closed earlier this year, many first responders have been concerned about the impact on their fellow staff and departments.
HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire, HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chippewa Falls and all Prevea Health locations in western Wisconsin’s Chippewa Valley announced in January that they were shutting down as part of a “complete exit from the Western Wisconsin region,” according to a press release.
Both hospitals closed on March 22.
“In the wake of St. Joe’s closing we have to watch out for our first responders but also people who use our fire and ambulance services,” Hoffman said. “People like me.”
The two HSHS hospitals served as a home base of sorts for paramedics.
Thom told the Chippewa Herald in January that his department transported about 1,200 patients per year to St. Joseph’s hospital alone.
In an effort to alleviate some of many difficulties facing first responders in Chippewa Falls, the city council approved in March the purchase of a medication safe for the fire department as well as IV pumps for all six ambulances in Chippewa Falls.
The total amount for the new purchases was $16,000.
HSHS St. Joseph’s and HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital were the places where the department restocked medications and supplies.
Thom said figuring out how, when and where to restock supplies was a top issue for his department at the beginning of the year and IV pumps were related.
“In the past we had IV pumps. We had an agreement worked out with HSHS for the pumps. That’s where we obtained them,” he said.
Now that the department has purchased its own IV pumps, staff can administer medications in the field.
“Now with a longer transport to Eau Claire it will be beneficial for us to get that pump set up, get those medications running sooner,” Thom said.
The six pumps cost $2,200 a piece.
The idea of traveling back and forth to Eau Claire for every restock has been daunting, according to Thom.
Thom said the new medication safe at the Chippewa Falls fire station helps the department restock medication quickly, particularly at night and on weekends.
“It’s a good safety net,” Thom said.
The medication safe cost the city $2,800.
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