A fee charged to people who receive medical response from Redding Fire Department will be considered by the City Council during Tuesday’s meeting. The fire department responds to around 16,000 calls a year. About 65% of them are medical calls and about 1,200 of them are “lift assists”, which means non-critical assistance getting up after a fall. All medical first responder calls are now subject to a fee of $489, and they’ve been billed retroactively back to the start of the year. The City Council voted in the fee two years ago but they’ve only started collecting them this month. Of the $106,000 that’s been billed, $10,000 of it has been received. The department can waive the fee on a case-to-case basis. On Tuesday the council will consider whether to make changes in the policy.
-Steve Gibson