PLAINS — When an emergency strikes in a rural area, it's usually volunteers who answer the call.
In Plains, the Community Ambulance has been saving lives since the early 1990s. Now, they're seeing more calls than ever before.
Plains Community Ambulance saw an over 17.5% increase in calls for service in 2024, which highlights the ever-important work that rural EMS provides.
"Winter got here late, but the ambulance calls didn't slow down, so January has been very busy for us," Plains Paramedic Lyle Fisher said.
Plains Community Ambulance is still on the move after 2024 brought the 25-person staff more calls than ever before.
Fisher continued, "This is rural Montana. We've got people out here hiking recreationally, rodeo, blue-collar jobs. People are always out here doing things and when you get a significant injury or significant illness, it pays to have paramedics."
Fisher told MTN the volume rose from 513 calls in 2023 to 602 last year. He attributes the increase to a variety of sources including a growing elderly population in Sanders County. "The elderly, geriatric population is a majority of our calls," Fisher stated.
Fisher notes population growth in Plains and the surrounding areas has four ambulances consistently active whether it be local needs or mutual aid.
"Our service area, we go mile marker 4,135 past Quinns. We go Highway 200-382 at the bridge there, and then up about Weeksville on 200, and then everything in between." he detailed.
Many of the EMS calls are transports where an ambulance helps someone in need get to a nearby hospital, but that doesn't always mean Clark Fork Valley Hospital down the road.
"It's a critical access facility, so a lot of higher acuity patients get sent either to Missoula or Kalispell, and we facilitate that," Fisher explained.
For Fisher and many volunteers alike, being able to serve his beloved community and state is the drive. "Don't be afraid to call us. We're here for Plains and in the surrounding area," he said.
