Officials with the Lewes Fire Department say they might need to cut their emergency medical services due to lack of funding.
The fire company has been operating at a deficit of just under $1 million for the last three years, according to the department’s treasurer Bryan Pepper.
He said the county hasn’t increased funding to the fire house that’s proportional to population growth and people just don’t have the time to volunteer anymore, which means someone has to pay for more staff.
“The cost of career staff [has] doubled over a six year period, and you can't make money in the ambulance business,” Pepper said. “And we're having to rob the fire side to fund the ambulance side. You can only do that so long, and then the fire side suffers also.”
Sussex County is conducting an audit of volunteer fire services. Sussex Councilmember Steve McCaron, who previously served as Bridgeville Fire Company president, said the results will help inform council’s next move.
“We need to look at this from a whole county perspective, not just one fire company making that statement,” McCaron said.
But Pepper said the Lewes Fire Department is considering turning EMS responsibility over to the county outright.
“The county will have to go out and hire employees and do it themselves if that's what it comes to,” Pepper said. “And we certainly hope that's not what it comes to, but we're prepared to do that if that's what it takes. We cannot continue to operate at a deficit.”
McCaron said he expects the audit results soon and he doesn’t want to see Lewes drop its ambulance service.
