Submitted Photo The village of Silver Creek said it will no longer be answering to ambulance calls outside of the district’s certificate of need, which come mostly from the towns of Sheridan and Dunkirk.

SILVER CREEK — Ambulance services will no longer be available for Sheridan and the town of Dunkirk from the Silver Creek Volunteer Emergency Squad unless more than one ambulance is necessary.

At Monday’s Village Board meeting, via video and audio call, village Mayor Jeffrey Hornburg announced that Silver Creek will no longer be answering to ambulance calls outside of their certificate of need, which come mostly from the towns of Sheridan and Dunkirk.

A resolution was brought to the table stating that the village service will no longer respond to calls outside of their certificate of need. “The Silver Creek ambulance service responding to calls outside of their certificate of need is putting Silver Creek residents in jeopardy,” Hornburg said. “The board feels that it is necessary to have ample ambulance coverage for the village residents. … The village would be permitted to respond if there is a mass casualty.”

A small discussion ensued, where Trustee Marv Cummings explained he is in support of the resolution, but noted it is necessary to take care of Silver Creek residents first. “This resolution will basically mirror what Fredonia and the city of Dunkirk have done,” Cummings said. “We want to take care of our residents first. That’s our main priority of the Silver Creek Emergency Squad. We’re not telling them ‘no.’ We will respond if they need more than one ambulance.”

According to Cummings and Steve Romanik, trustee, there was a meeting between the towns of Sheridan and Dunkirk, County Emergency Medial Services and Alstar Ambulance in February to discuss EMS transports. At no time was the village or Silver Creek Emergency Squad invited to this meeting for any input.

After the meeting, it was decided the city of Dunkirk and Village of Fredonia Fire Departments would not respond to mutual aid outside their certificate of need to these townships. Since then, the Silver Creek Emergency Squad has been called upon to provide basic EMS transports for both towns, on top of handling their own response area.

“This extra call volume has been taxing on our volunteers,” Cummings said. “We need to provide our residents and the residents within our certificate of need this service first. However, in cases where more than one ambulance is needed, our volunteers will be there to assist. The village of Silver Creek is lucky to have a very dedicated group of first responders like we do and we definitely don’t want to burn them out and take them away from their families more than we have to.”

The resolution was unanimously passed, receiving “ayes” from all board members. The Village of Silver Creek has decided to follow what Fredonia and the city of Dunkirk Fire Departments have done and only respond to calls within their certificate of need area.

In other Silver Creek news, the second August board meeting is canceled and the next board meeting will be on Sept. 8. This meeting will be held at the Village Hall, but due to limited seating for social distancing, it is requested that those who wish to join call ahead and reserve a seat.