Last year, one Bangor resident called for emergency assistance 171 times. Another person called first responders to their home only to ask the firefighter to hand them an out-of-reach TV remote control.
In response to a growing number of calls for aid that Bangor’s emergency responders say shouldn’t be necessary, the Fire Department wants the city to start charging fees to people or institutions who frequently call for help when no one needs to be taken to a hospital.
“We’re not trying to penalize these people,” Fire Chief Tom Higgins told members of the city’s Government Operations Committee during a meeting Monday night. “We’re trying to get them to make a more appropriate decision.”
Among the most frequent calls for Bangor EMTs and firefighters are lift assists — situations in which an elderly or disabled person can’t get up or move from one location to another under their own power.
“We want to do the right thing by these people, but when we’ve come 20 or 30 times, it gets to be a drain,” Higgins said. Under the proposal, an individual who requests help without being taken to the hospital between four and eight times in a year would be charged $25 per vehicle that dealt with those calls. Once they exceed nine requests, that would jump to $125 per vehicle. Someone who requests emergency responders three or fewer times without an emergency wouldn’t be charged.