Clark County Ambulance Service Reached Level Zero 19 Times Last Month

Clark County Board | July 17, 2026

Article Summary: The director of the county’s ambulance service told the Clark County Board on Friday, July 17, 2026, that call volume remains above 200 a month, that the county was at “level zero” 19 times and that the service turned down 65 interfacility transfer requests because of staffing and vehicle shortages. The board took no action on the report.

Clark County Ambulance Service Key Points:

Call volume remains over 200 per month, and the county was at level zero 19 times, CCAS Director Chace Bramlett reported.

Sixty-five interfacility transfer requests were turned down because of short staffing and a vehicle shortage; Bramlett described the transfers as a good revenue generator and said he is trying to increase them.

The Casey station needs repair, and Bramlett said he has discussed placing a modular on the lot with Casey’s mayor.

A flyer on the Hyper Reach severe-weather text alert service will be mailed to county residents, with Marshall, Martinsville and Casey paying postage for their own residents.

CLARK COUNTY — Clark County’s ambulance service was at level zero 19 times last month while fielding more than 200 calls, CCAS Director Chace Bramlett told the Clark County Board on Friday, July 17, 2026, at the board’s regular meeting in the Clark County Courthouse in Marshall.

Bramlett delivered the update under committee reports, the agenda item that followed the board’s return from a closed session on personnel. The minutes record no motion, no vote and no board discussion on any part of the ambulance report, and the board took no action on it.

According to the minutes, Bramlett said call volume “remains over 200 per month” and that there were 19 occasions on which the county was at level zero. The minutes do not define level zero, do not give a figure for how long any of those 19 periods lasted, and do not record whether any call went uncovered as a result.

Bramlett also told the board he is trying to increase interfacility transfers, which he described as a good revenue generator, but that the service had to turn down 65 requests because of short staffing and a vehicle shortage. The minutes do not record how many staff positions are open, how many vehicles the service operates, how many are out of service, or what the declined transfers would have been worth.

Casey Station Repairs and a Modular

The Casey station needs repair, Bramlett reported. He told the board he had talked with Casey’s mayor about putting a modular on the lot and had gotten “some forward movement” on the idea.

No cost estimate, timeline, funding source or description of the needed repairs appears in the minutes, and no agreement between the county and the city is recorded. The item was not before the board for action.

Severe Weather Alerts

Bramlett said a flyer will be mailed to county residents regarding Hyper Reach, which he described as a text service that notifies residents of approaching severe weather. Residents must sign up to participate, he said. Marshall, Martinsville and Casey are paying the postage for their residents, according to the minutes.

The minutes do not say who is paying postage for residents outside those three cities, who holds the Hyper Reach contract, what it costs the county, or when the flyer will go out.

Fifty Years of County EMS

Bramlett closed his report with a note of local history. He told the board that actor Randolph Mantooth had died the previous weekend, and that because of the television program Emergency! the term paramedic became widely recognized, with EMS programs starting across the country roughly a decade later. Bramlett said Dr. Turner loved the program and that it helped him create the first ambulance service in Clark County 50 years ago.

The minutes give no first name for Dr. Turner and no further detail on the founding of the service.

The ambulance report was one of several department updates before the board. Earlier in the meeting, members voted unanimously to accept all office reports for June 2026, a group that the July agenda lists as covering the county clerk, circuit clerk, sheriff, county treasurer, supervisor of assessments, probation and public defender. Those reports are referenced in the minutes as attachments but were not included in the materials released with the minutes, so no figures from them are available.

The board’s next regular meeting is set for Aug. 21, 2026, at 8 a.m.