LETTER: We already have an ambulance service

It is called Okaloosa County EMS. Your tax dollars pay for this service.

It is their responsibility to ensure proper service to all residents of Okaloosa County, which includes Destin. Okaloosa County EMS is the first responders to all medical calls in the county. The Destin Fire Control District does have EMT’s and paramedics on staff for advance life support to assist Okaloosa County when needed, because every second does count in a medical emergency. Destin’s core mission is to provide fire protection; Okaloosa County’s EMS’s core mission is to provide ambulance service. Okaloosa County decides who can run medical calls, not the fire department.

My opponents state that the South Walton Fire District provides ambulance service, so we should to. What’s not being told is that Walton County pays $1 million a year to the South Walton Fire District to provide ambulance service, because Walton County does not want to be involved in ambulance service in the south end of the county.

Just like the city of Destin pay’s the sheriff’s department more than $1 million a year to provide police protection. Okaloosa County will not give up the EMS service and will not give the Destin Fire Control District $1 million a year to take their jobs over, if there is a problem with response times for emergency calls in Destin, then Okaloosa County should be held accountable, since that is their responsibility. We already pay taxes for this service; let’s get our money’s worth and stop paying taxes twice for the same service.

Bob Wagner

Candidate for Destin Fire commissioner