Posted at: 07/20/2009 9:09 PM
Updated at: 07/21/2009 9:26 AM
By: Eyewitness News 4

Couple raises red flags over emergency services

Bill LeBrecht

A Valencia County man suffering an apparent heart-attack calls paramedics. But with a fire station just a half-mile away, he wonders why it took paramedics almost 25 minutes to reach him.

Meadow Lake resident Bill LeBrecht knows the crushing chest pain associated with a heart attack—he's suffered four of them. So when he felt the pain again, his wife wasted no time calling 911.

"It scared me. When I looked at him and saw the look in his eyes and on his face I knew we were in big trouble," Rosemary LeBrecht said.

But with the Meadow Lake Fire Station just a half-mile away, help didn't arrive for over 20 minutes.

Rosemary LeBrecht says in prior emergency calls, paramedics arrived within a couple of minutes.

"I couldn't understand it. I wasn't going to dwell on it because I was really in pain," Bill LeBrecht said.

His wife says she is frightened for her husband's life.

"I don't want to lose my husband. I don't want to go through this again. I need somebody here. When I call 911, I need somebody here now," Rosemary LeBrecht said.

Officials say when the call came in, nobody was staffed at the Meadow Lake Station.

County Fire Chief Charles Eaton says Valencia County has only four paid firefighters and 150 volunteers to serve 42,000 people. He says the Meadow Lake station is staffed maybe seven days out of the month.

Eaton says there could also be a protocol issue with dispatch. He says it should have taken 12 to 15 minutes to get someone from a neighboring district to LeBrecht's home.

Luckily for Bill LeBrecht, his chest pain wasn't a heart attack. But he and his wife are concerned about how long it will take to get help if he has another heart attack.

The LeBrechts aren't blaming anyone for what happened, but they hope the county commission hears their concerns.

Some county commissioners say a 911 and EMS gross receipts tax will soon provide more paid fire fighters and help train dispatchers.

The Meadow Lake Station was built less than two years ago at a cost of about $750,000.