When Mount Desert no longer needed the ambulance, Northeast Harbor Ambulance Service offered it to Southwest Harbor, giving the town another resource to help its neighbors in an emergency.

Carrie Jones

just now

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Bar Harbor Bicycle Shop.

---

SOUTHWEST HARBOR—For $1 Southwest Harbor has received an ambulance that’s currently in service with the Mount Desert Fire Department and is in good operating condition.

According to Southwest Harbor Fire Chief Tom Chisholm the new-to-Southwest Harbor ambulance will only increase their ability to help people in the community.

“The ambulance would supplement the existing EMS system when an ambulance is unavailable, already committed, or out of service, as well as when additional resources are needed for multiple or large scale emergencies. It would also provide a valuable training resource for fire department members and help maintain our ability to provide additional ambulance support when needed,” Chisholm wrote in a September 8 memo.

The possibility of the town getting that ambulance for just $1 came up approximately three months ago when Tom Wallace, president of Northeast Harbor Ambulance, reached out, Chief Chisholm told the Southwest Harbor Select Board during its September 22 meeting.

Wallace let Chief Chisholm know that “the ambulance that they had gifted to the Mount Desert Fire Department in 2022, when the fire department took over the ambulance services, was being gifted back, or given back to the ambulance service. He reached out to see if it would be an asset to the municipal services that we provide,” Chief Chisholm explained.

The fire department thought it would.

“Thank you for this opportunity. This is amazing. I was in a similar situation with an EMS department and fire department. It’s so valuable to have this basically given to us for a dollar. It’s insane,” former first responder Jeff Prentice told Wallace during the select board meeting.

The new ambulance wouldn’t replace a resource, Chief Chisholm said, and it’s not meant to compete with the emergency medical services currently provided by the Southwest Harbor-Tremont Ambulance Service (SWTAS).

“SWTAS would continue to provide the primary ambulance and emergency medical transportation services for Southwest Harbor,” Chief Chisholm explained in that memo.

Instead, it is meant to supplement the EMS system that exists when there is no ambulance available. That can happen if one is out of service or both are already being used.

Wallace explained in an August memo that the ambulance originally belonged to Northeast Harbor Ambulance Service (NHAS) before it discontinued providing direct emergency medical service to the Town of Mount Desert in 2022. Then, the Mount Desert Fire Department assumed emergency medical services to the Town of Mount Desert.

“As part of the transition, the ambulance was provided to the Mount Desert Fire Department and has remained in active service providing emergency medical transportation for the community,” Wallace wrote.

This month, the Mount Desert Fire Department will have a new ambulance, purchased by the town. The town agreed to the original contract, which stipulates that it would sell the ambulance back to the NHAS. Now the NHAS, who has consistently helped neighboring communities with emergency services needs, decided that Southwest Harbor might be a great place for its ambulance to land.

“We’ve been a licensed first responder service since 2001, and providing medical care in some fashion that’s, developed over the last 10 years,” Chief Chisholm said.

The department hasn’t been actively looking for an ambulance, Chief Chisholm said.

“I was very, very happy to see that they’re still doing good things within our community,” Chisholm said of NHAS.

“Oh, we decided that It would be nothing but to benefit the island, and… this side, boom. We noticed that Mount Desert comes over here, now that we’re stationed in Somesville, Mount Desert comes over here,” Wallace said.

It could also help keep Mount Desert ambulance personnel in its own town a bit more, he said. “We just felt it was an asset.”

In the past Mount Desert had given Southwest Harbor a fire truck. That fire truck eventually went on to serve Gouldsboro. The sharing and helping were behind the offer, Wallace said.

However, some officials from the Southwest Harbor-Tremont Ambulance Service questioned the town’s acquisition.

The nonprofit ambulance services’ vice president and secretary Kristin Hutchins said any deficiencies in coverage for Southwest Harbor and neighboring Tremont isn’t about gear, but staff.

“Asking the communities to maintain three ambulances rather than two, doesn’t make financial sense to me,” she said, and worried about both the fire department and ambulance service having overlapping fundraising efforts. “I don’t think the deficiency in this community is gear and rigs. I think the deficiency is staffing. We need more staff.”

Chief Chisholm was asked if he’d reached out to the ambulance service’s new executive director, Kyle Wells. He had.

“I think it’s definitely a good resource to have around. I would just have to wonder, so are you gonna respond to calls in Tremont?” Wells asked.

“That would be a conversation you and I would have, or myself and the ambulance, as part of your mutual aid plan. So right now, when you’re unavailable, you call Mount Desert. If we’re part of your mutual aid plan to get an ambulance that much closer, we’d be happy to talk about that later on,” Chisholm said. “The service you provide is how it’s contracted and how it’s worded for you. If you would like us to go to Tremont because your ambulance is unavailable, we’d be happy to try to send that resource.”

Wells responded, “I mean, it’s definitely something we’d have to talk about and work through. The only other question I have is if it really comes down to resources, making sure the community is 100% protected, and you have 11 people that are licensed to work as EMTs, or I think you even have a couple AMTs, why not just have them sign on with us? And then they can take those rates. Then you’re already licensed, you already have the agreements. Everything is under… we already have a platform in place. We already have all the technology. We’re an operating system. Why recreate the wheel?”

“Great question. I think, we’ve talked about this. 70% of our EMTs were part of, if not more, including the driver side of things, a part of your organization. Most have gotten done because of the requirements or resignations. I asked you if you had a chance to look at the resignation letters. I can’t force firefighters to join a private entity that provides a contracted service,” Chief Chisholm said.

The discussion comes at a time when ambulance service and needs have been coming to statewide press attention and worries.

According to a 2022 Maine Monitor article, “the closure of ambulance services and lack of EMS responders around the state has prompted other departments to consider training firefighters as medical personnel.”

Firefighters throughout Mount Desert Island have helped with medical calls, CPR, search and rescue, drownings, accidents, traffic control, lift-assists, and more. It’s not just fighting fires any longer. Through mutual aid agreements, all work together when the need arises.

“As many of our members have stated, ‘we all need to work together’ to meet not only the fire department’s, but all essential emergency service’s needs and their missions. This methodology is something seen not only across our state, but nationally,” Chisholm said. “As our town (Southwest Harbor) specifically has grown and evolved over the past several years, the Fire Department has worked hard to meet that need/demand. By taking a mindful but proactive approach, I with the support of our members, town leaders, and most importantly our community, have taken small steps to keep our small fire department up and running at the lowest cost while too trying to ensure that if someone calls for help, someone show’s up and in a timely manner.”

“Right now, we have a paid firefighter EMT on. I can’t have them leave a municipal job to jump on a private ambulance to make money for them, so this bridges the gap for us to be able to utilize municipal employees,” Chief Chisholm said of the new ambulance and its use for the fire department. “For that type of thing, and you had mentioned that they have to do twelve hours or more to stay active. I had struggled to get the call membership, in addition to my full-time staff, to meet the requirements of a fire service, so now asking them to double down and join a private ambulance is a little bit taxing to the membership I have,” Chief Chisholm said.

Maintaining the ambulance would not be the Southwest Harbor taxpayers’ responsibility, Chisholm said. The fire department has a revenue and donation line that would pay for the ambulance’s maintenance and it’s already 90% ready for use.

“Seconds count. You know, you talk about mutual aid, somebody coming from the next town over. Someone could be down at Seawall, getting pulled out with a broken femur, second tone goes out, nobody’s responding. These guys are coming from Mount Desert, from Bar Harbor somewhere. This is available. Seconds matter,” Prentice said. “My family members, your family members… Listen, we have to do what’s best for the community. This is a huge opportunity. I think it’s a great idea. I think we should definitely do this. There’s no bad thing I can think about. Down the road, costs, I mean, 3-4 years down the road, you’re talking. Listen, if it rolls one time and saves a life, that’s worth all 100 pennies of it.”

The select board agreed, 3-0, with Norwood abstaining.

---

LINKS TO LEARN MORE

To watch the meeting

---

HELP SUPPORT THE BAR HARBOR STORY

When we started The Bar Harbor Story, we didn’t know if anyone would read it. But you showed up. You shared. You sent tips. Now—over 400,000 views every month later—it’s clear: people here care about their community and each other.

We’ve kept everything free because news should never be out of reach, but every one of our stories takes time to write, and your support keeps The Bar Harbor Story going.

If you value our work, please consider a paid subscription, a founding membership, or a sponsorship.

It truly helps us cover one more meeting, tell one more story, shine one more light.

Even $5 a month makes a difference. Click here to become a one-time supporter now.

Thank you so much for being here.

Founding member information can be found here.

Have questions about sponsorships? Just send Shaun an email at sfarrar86@gmail.com, he’d love to hear from you.