Council OKs $75 Fee for Emergency Medical Aid : Services: The ordinance is intended to help offset costs incurred when the Fire Department responds to a call. The fee will be discretionary.

GLENDALE — Emergency medical treatment by the Fire Department now costs $75 under a resolution and ordinance enacted Tuesday by the City Council.

The new fee, imposed as part of the council’s ongoing drive to balance a tight budget, is expected to raise about $175,000 annually. Nearby cities, including Pasadena and Los Angeles, have been charging similar fees for several years, Glendale officials said.

The charge represents only a fraction of the estimated annual $1-million cost of providing emergency medical services by the Fire Department, which has 12 engine companies citywide. Fire Chief Richard Hinz said fire personnel usually arrive ahead of any of the four privately operated ambulances assigned to the city.

Hinz said the department is receiving an increasing number of calls to aid non-residents, in traffic accidents, for example. He said the department responded last year to more than 5,000 calls stemming from life-threatening situations. These calls accounted for 74% of all calls to the department.

Emergency calls this year could reach almost 6,000, Hinz said. He estimates the cost of responding to medical calls at $150 an hour for staffing alone--or a total of $900,000 a year.

In addition, he said, the calls cost taxpayers annually about $50,000 a year in the shortened life span of heavy firetrucks used to respond to calls, $10,000 for medical supplies and $7,500 to train personnel. The cost of injuries that occur to firefighters while responding to medical calls has not been determined but “represents a very significant cost,” Hinz said.

Hinz said the department is considering alternatives to reduce expenses, such as buying some lighter trucks to respond to medical calls rather than using heavy tanker and ladder engines.

The emergency fee, to be billed by the Fire Department, is to be discretionary, based on the type and extent of services rendered. Some charges could be waived by the fire chief if no treatment is required, for example, or if several members of a single family are injured in a traffic accident.

Fees imposed will be considered a civil debt, collectible through the courts, including the small claims court.

Officials said they don’t want any individual to pay a heavy burden for needed care. However, if the department finds people misusing or abusing the system with unnecessary calls to the department, the ordinance allows for repeated charges for services.

The measure was enacted as an emergency ordinance, which puts it into effect immediately, because the city budget adopted in June includes anticipated revenue from the new fee. The amount of the charge can be changed from time to time by a simple resolution and may be increased in the future, officials said.

As a part of their proposal, fire officials had recommended that a portion of the funds raised by the fee--about $75,000--be used to purchase automatic defibrillator equipment, used to restore the heart rhythm of cardiac-arrest victims. Hinz and medical experts said the machines have proved highly successful in saving lives in the critical early minutes of a heart attack. One machine would be purchased for each fire station.

Action on that proposal was delayed until Tuesday so the city can reach an agreement indemnifying its private contractor--Professional Ambulance--from liability for the Fire Department’s use of the special equipment.