VIDEO: Fort Smith EMS is now officially in a new building on North 11th Street, a long-awaited move designed to better serve the area. Executive Director Tim Hearn said the new building will make a big difference on the north side of the city.
โWe’ve always been servicing the north side of Fort Smith. This puts us in a little bit closer with some of our heavier call volume in the condensed area of downtown Fort Smith and on the north side,” Hearn said.
The 7,000 square foot building once housed an office supply company. Fort smith EMS bought it a year ago and immediately began transforming it. The new building will house two ambulances and an advanced response vehicle which Hearn said will better serve patients.
โThis will improve our response times. Our response times are good now there are seven minutes or less. We wanted to see if we could cut that down just a little bit more for the north side.โ
Hearn also said theyโll use the building as a training site. โWe’re going to open up a training facility up there for our medics. We also have one at our main station on Duke Avenue. But our operations will improve,” Hearn said. “Just simply for having more trucks in one spot, it’ll also be a backup operational center, should we need it.โ
