‘It’s Finally Happening’: Bixby Fire Introduces New Ambulance Service On New Year’s Day

Beginning in 2024, anyone expecting an ambulance in the City of Bixby, one will arrive, but will no longer have the EMSA logo on it, instead, it will have the Bixby Fire Department’s.

The new year will bring new ambulances to the city, an accomplishment Bixby EMS Chief Matthew Dickerson said was three years in the making.

“The administration prior to me set this goal out to run our own ambulance service from our fire department and so that is finally happening, everything is falling in place,” Dickerson said. 

The city used a bond issue to build a new fire station to house the ambulances. It had been relying on EMSA to provide ambulance service. 

“We had the same protocols, we provided the same quality of care, same level of care, but at the end of the day, they would be the ones to take them to the hospital," Dickerson said. 

Now, it will be the fire department from start to finish.

Dickerson said the department wants to grow along with the city. 

“With that agreement and the way it was being ran in the past, we just outgrew that process and that ability for what we were providing then,” Dickerson said. 

Dickerson also said everyone’s been preparing since the beginning. The city held a traditional wash-down ceremony for the new ambulances on Friday. 

“Our firefighters and paramedics and advanced EMTS, they’ve all been training, and we’ve set goals for them, we’ve set training for them and they’ve jumped on it, and they’ve completed it," Dickerson said.

Dickerson ensures there will be no drop-off in care, even when every second counts.

“This is our city, and this is our town and we wanna do the best for our citizens, and we know this city in and out so we’ll be able to respond a little bit quicker, respond a little bit more accurately,” he said.

The ambulances will begin serving the people of Bixby at 8:00 a.m. on January 1, 2024.