The Dunkirk and Fredonia fire departments are not going to provide emergency medical services (EMS) in the towns of Dunkirk and Sheridan after May 1. The town boards for Dunkirk and Sheridan are set to meet Monday with emergency services officials to figure out their next steps.

Officials at Tuesday’s Dunkirk Town Board meeting said the change is due to a stricter interpretation of state law. The departments are currently offering EMS outside of the districts of their “certificate of need,” which means they are providing them in areas outside of the places they are mandated to provide them, within the city of Dunkirk and village of Fredonia limits.

The state has decided that’s a no-no, unless formal contracts are in place.

Dunkirk Town Board member Robert Penharlow said he thinks there is a way around that: if the certificate of need is changed by the county’s emergency medical service council. He said that there is clearly a need for EMS to supplement what the town of Dunkirk’s two fire departments provide, noting that 73 percent of those department’s calls are for EMS.

Kyle Damon, East Dunkirk Fire Department chief, said private sector ambulance services such as Alstar are uninterested in contracting for services in aging areas where their reimbursement rates are poor.

Alstar has been informally doing calls in the town of Dunkirk but no longer will with the stricter interpretation of state law. “We’ve been spoiled with Alstar for 30-plus years. We’ve never had a contract with them,” Damon said.

“Regardless of anything, there are people in need, and I think it’s important that need is taken care of,” Penharlow said.

Dunkirk Town Supervisor Richard Purol pointed out another reason Alstar might want to stop during a phone conversation with the OBSERVER Thursday: Private ambulance services make much more money transporting patients to hospitals than they can responding to EMS calls.

Juan Pagan, another Dunkirk town councilman, noted at Tuesday’s meeting that surrounding municipalities all have contracts explicitly covering EMS. “We need to sit down with all parties concerned,” he said. “We seem to be the only ones left out of the loop.”

Dunkirk Town Board members and Damon agreed with Pagan about the need for a sit-down, which will be with the Sheridan Town Board and other local fire chiefs. The meeting was set for Monday at 6 p.m. at the Sheridan town hall. It was unclear who would be able to attend and Purol said Thursday night, “We’re still trying to get everyone together.”

On Tuesday, Penharlow’s frustration with the matter was clear.

“Nothing’s changed except the interpretation. ‘Well, we can’t go across a line now.’ Well, change the line,” he said.