New ambulance service area approved by Mason City council, should result in better service for western Cerro Gordo County

MASON CITY — The City Council in Mason City this week approved a revised ambulance service agreement with Cerro Gordo County that should result in better service for residents in the western part of the county.

Mason City Fire Chief Erik Bullinger says a review of the current boundaries for ambulance services demonstrated a need for adjustments to better serve the communities in and around Mason City, Clear Lake and the rural areas of Cerro Gordo County.  “The previous agreement had us at about 824 square miles of coverage area, and this will drop off about 95 square miles, which will be transferred to Clear Lake. What that will do is basically put people closer to an ambulance service in that territory, so hopefully getting them an ambulance sooner by location.”

Bullinger says residents throughout Cerro Gordo County will be well served under the revised agreement.   “Right now, when we reviewed the the coverage areas, we actually overlapped a little bit, so we would actually go past Clear Lake’s area to get to somebody when they were a lot closer. It just made sense to expand their area just a little bit. In some cases, it could get them an ambulance in five minutes as opposed to 15, so a big difference.”

The new agreement will last until September 2029. A map of the revised Clear Lake ambulance service area is below