SH Fire Board approves ambulance rate increases

Mark Bernt, himself an Albany firefighter, pins a badge on his son Tommy Bernt during the Sweet Home Fire Board Meeting as Sadie Bernt, his wife and Tommy’s mother, watches, left. Photos by Scott Swanson

Ambulance rates in Sweet Home will rise after Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District board members approved increases ranging from 15.8% to 40-plus percent for emergency medical services provided by the district.

Fire Chief Nick Tyler told board members the increases were necessary because the district’s ambulance rates “no longer adequately reflect the reasonable cost of providing those services.”

Tyler said the ambulance services are funded in a variety of ways and budget lines in…