Luisa Loi reports from the Oak Harbor City Council workshop of Tue., Mar. 25, 2025 for the Whidbey News-Times. Read the whole story.
On top of adding career firefighters and a new fire station, the Oak Harbor Fire Department is hoping to beef up its capabilities and save more lives by offering paramedic services rather than emergency medical technicians, or EMTs, only.
Fire Chief Travis Anderson said the department is looking at potentially adding three paramedics to the department’s firefighter and EMT team.
Both the mayor and city council enthusiastically voiced support for Anderson’s proposal.
They Said It
According to Anderson, the department currently offers “basic life support,” which is a series of life-saving procedures, like CPR, to maintain the life functions of a person until they can receive more advanced medical care. These are conducted by an emergency medical technician.
By upgrading to “advanced life support” with paramedics, he said, the department would be able to provide a higher level of care. As opposed to EMTs, who have about 120 hours of training, paramedics have to prepare for about 1,200 to 1,800 hours, a level of education that allows them to conduct more invasive pre-hospital procedures, like administering medication, inserting needles, putting a tube down a patient’s throat, using a defibrillator and more, he said.
Mayor Ronnie Wright said the city is working on securing grants for ambulances.
