Fort Worth’s emergency medical services (EMS) branch continues to work towards reducing response times, despite still being 30 seconds away from its target of responding to 90% of calls in under 8 minutes. The city council aims for this goal, but the current average response time is around 6 minutes and 43 seconds.
The EMS branch, which began operating under the fire department on July 1, has seen a significant improvement since then. In October, when Fort Worth’s fire chief resigned over disagreements about firefighter safety with the firefighters’ union, the union leader said the chief failed to recognize acceptable response times for EMS and fire services.
However, despite some challenges, the city is optimistic about its progress. Dr. Jeffrey Jarvis, the medical director, said that more responders and resources at an emergency scene can lead to higher rates of survival. He also praised the city’s approach to transitioning from MedStar, which saw a significant improvement in response times after taking over the ambulance services.
The city’s EMS branch costs around $89.2 million annually, with about $65 million covered by insurance billing and patient revenue. The rest is covered by fees from 14 smaller cities that receive ambulance services.
While the fire department has only audited October’s response times, they are confident that the improvements will continue as they fill vacant EMT positions and streamline practices. Recently, 92 new single- and dual-role first responders graduated from their classes to help improve response times.
The city’s approach to transitioning MedStar’s services was a success, with over 600 former MedStar employees joining the fire department. Dr. Jarvis said that preserving some of MedStar’s culture and staff within the city has been important to the branch’s success.
With ongoing efforts to improve response times and increase the number of responders on scene, Fort Worth’s EMS branch is making progress towards its goal.
Source: https://fortworthreport.org/2025/11/25/fort-worths-new-ems-misses-response-time-goals-records-show