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![\"WJ](\"http:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/WJ-250x55.png\")
TRINIDAD \u2014 Declaring that living in Las Animas County shouldn\u2019t be a death sentence, Trinidad Ambulance District Chief Dan Moynihan faced a county commission trying to understand why it is difficult to get EMS to respond to E911 calls in some parts of eastern Las Animas County.\nThe question came up by commissioners as the ambulance service was seeking to renew its license to operate in the county.
\n\u201cI called dispatch the other night and gave them the county road I was on and they told me, \u2018You\u2019re on your own.\u2019 \u00a0I mean we pay taxes too, so I don\u2019t understand the difficulty,\u201d Commission chair Mack Louden said.
\nThe difficulty, according to Moynihan, is in the mapping. \u201cWe need better mapping, numbering, and signage,\u201d he said. \u00a0\u201cDispatch uses Google Maps, but if the addressing isn\u2019t there, then it gets difficult.\u201d
\nThe incident Louden was referring to happened near Kim, which has an ambulance barn and was closer, but it\u2019s not part of the E911 system used in Trinidad. \u00a0Dispatch had to call Kim and give them the alert. \u00a0By then, according to Moynihan, crews from Trinidad should also have been dispatched to the location. \u00a0\u201cWe use multiple responders. \u00a0Sometimes Trinidad is closer and we get there first. \u00a0We have agreements with Kim for that. \u00a0As far as I can tell without having looked at the records of the incident, this might be a breakdown in communication.\u201d
\nE911 is managed by the Trinidad Police Chief and the City of Trinidad. \u00a0However, according to Moynihan, \u201cThe ambulance district is offering the classes and training for free.\u201d \u00a0This would put trained individuals who live in the county closer to possible medical emergencies that might arise in their areas.
\nIn other business, the commissioners voted 3-0 to move applications for Special Use Permits (SUP) back to the planning department because letters of notification from Viaero Wireless to construct cell phone towers in three separate locations had not been sent out.
\nColorado Crushers received approval on their bid to crush aggregate gravel for road projects by the county\u2019s Road and bridge department. \u00a0The bid was for $288,000, up about $22,000 from October 2015 when similar bids had been requested. \u00a0However, the county is seeing savings on fuel costs with a bid on diesel by Alta Fuels coming in at $1.07 per gallon for 7,200 gallons of fuel, with the total contract worth $7,704. \u00a0Two years ago the county received a similar low bid on a contract for diesel fuel that totaled $22,000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"