Who will answer Brodhead’s 911 calls in the future?

By Rob Scheidegger, Brodhead Fire Chief

Imagine that you call 911 and someone shows up 30 minutes later.

Everyone would feel this is an unacceptable situation.  After all, most 911 calls are made because some sort of help is needed as soon as possible.

Unfortunately a delayed response is becoming more likely as fire departments and ambulances become short staffed due to a lack of volunteers.

The Brodhead area is not immune to this issue.

The Brodhead Fire District provides the services of a typical fire department including Emergency Medical Response.  The Brodhead Area EMS provides emergency ambulance service.  They are separate entities although there are some people that belong to both organizations.  In fact, 35% of Wisconsin fire departments don’t transport patients to hospitals, according to data from the U.S. Fire Administration.

Pick up the June 8th print edition for full story….