Urbandale-Clive Agreement Will Send Closest Emergency Unit To EMS, Fire Calls

URBANDALE, IA. -- By early next week, residents and businesses in Urbandale and Clive could see quicker responses by fire and ambulance personnel in emergency situations. The cities reached an agreement to dispatch the closest unit available to a call, regardless of city boundaries, beginning Tuesday.

Once the agreement takes effect, calls for service will no longer be based on geographic city boundaries, but will instead be responded to by the closest ambulance or fire apparatus available from either fire department, Urbandale Fire Chief Jerry Holt and Clive Fire Chief Rick Roe said in a news release.

“This is about getting help to those calling for help in the fastest manner without an artificial barrier,” Holt said.

(For more local news, sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Urbandale Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

The neighboring communities share a training facility and have a common dispatch center "and we have always worked closely with each other through mutual aid and other projects," Roe said. "This simply takes that relationship to the next level."

The results of the collaborative effort will be that the closest firetruck or ambulance will be dispatched without regard to the city in which the call originates.

“There are locations within both of our cities that are closer to the neighboring city’s fire department," Holt said in the news release. "It is a good idea to get an ambulance or firetruck to a call for help in the quickest manner. It makes no sense to make someone wait to have their call for help answered so that the city in which the call is located can respond."

The chiefs cited as an example a location within Urbandale on 86th Street north of Hickman Road. Clive
is closer and could respond faster.

“This response configuration puts the customer first," Roe said. "It is all about providing the best possible
service regardless of location or city. Working together we can add efficiency and provide the
best possible response to a call for help.”

The two fire departments work and train together already. Both departments say they need an added fire and EMS presence in the northwestern portions of their communities and they are working together to provide cost efficient services to those areas.

Urbandale residents will vote Nov. 7 on a bond referendum for a proposed $6 million fire station that could provide services to both cities in that area while sharing operational costs.

Urbandale Fire Department photo