09/01/2026
🚑 WHO IS VALDERS FIRE DEPARTMENT AMBULANCE SERVICE?
When you call 911, who is coming?
For more than 60 years, Valders Ambulance Service has been answering that call.
What began around 1960 with a 1959 Chevrolet station wagon has grown into a paramedic-level emergency medical service serving approximately 260 square miles and more than 11,000 people across our region.
But an ambulance is only part of the story.
❤️ IT'S THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE AMBULANCE.
Today, Valders Fire Department and Ambulance Service are supported by 41 dedicated personnel:
👨⚕️ EMS
• 6 full-time EMS staff
• 12 part-time EMS staff
• 1 volunteer EMS staff
👨🚒 Fire Department
• 22 volunteer firefighters
These are the people who train, maintain equipment, check ambulances, keep their education current, maintain certifications, and prepare for emergencies that could happen at any moment.
Because we never know what the next 911 call will bring.
It could be a heart attack.
A stroke.
A child in respiratory distress.
A serious vehicle crash.
A farm accident.
A cardiac arrest.
A traumatic injury.
Or something we've never seen before.
Our job is to be ready.
🚑 THREE FRONT-LINE ALS AMBULANCES
Valders Ambulance operates three front-line Advanced Life Support ambulances.
That means more than simply having three vehicles.
It means maintaining the medical equipment, cardiac monitors, medications, supplies, communications equipment, fuel, maintenance, inspections, and trained personnel necessary to put those ambulances into service.
When one ambulance is already on a call, additional resources can be critical.
When multiple emergencies happen at the same time, our communities depend on having additional response capability.
🗺️ WE SERVE MORE THAN JUST VALDERS
Our EMS service area covers portions of:
📍 Village of Valders
📍 Village of Whitelaw
📍 Village of Reedsville
📍 Town of Maple Grove
📍 Town of Franklin
📍 Town of Rockland
📍 Town of Cato
📍 Town of Eaton
📍 Town of Liberty
📍 Town of Meeme
That's approximately 260 square miles and more than 11,000 people relying on a coordinated emergency-response system.
Local first responders throughout portions of our service area also play an important role by beginning care before the ambulance arrives.
🤝 WE'VE BEEN THROUGH HARD TIMES BEFORE
In 2007, Valders Ambulance transitioned from an intermediate-level EMS license to paramedic-level service.
That change significantly increased the level of care available to our communities—but it also came with high additional costs.
The years following that transition brought serious financial challenges and shortfalls.
The lesson was important:
Higher-level emergency medical care requires a sustainable financial commitment.
Our communities learned from those difficult years.
Instead of giving up, they stayed together.
They worked together.
And they continued supporting a regional EMS system capable of providing advanced emergency medical care.
As Fire Chief Christopher Dallas puts it:
“We have been through hard years before. We learned from them. We stayed together. Those difficult days are behind us, and we will continue moving forward—building on what we have learned, strengthening our service, and addressing the changing needs of the communities we are proud to serve.”
❤️ WHAT DOES YOUR SUPPORT PROVIDE?
When you support Valders EMS, you're helping support much more than an ambulance.
You're helping provide:
🚑 Three front-line ALS ambulances
👨⚕️ Paramedics, AEMTs, EMTs & responders
📚 Training & continuing education
🩺 Advanced medical equipment
💊 Medications & medical supplies
📻 Emergency communications
🔧 Vehicle maintenance & repairs
⛽ Fuel & operating costs
🏢 Facilities & utilities
📋 Insurance & regulatory requirements
💰 Future ambulance & equipment replacement
🤝 Regional mutual-aid capabilities
Readiness is the service.
An ambulance can't assess a patient.
A cardiac monitor can't make a treatment decision.
A medication can't administer itself.
A rescue tool can't remove someone from a wrecked vehicle.
People do those things.
That's why investing in EMS means investing in people, training, equipment, ambulances, and the service's future.
⏰ WHY DOES READINESS MATTER?
Because you can't build an EMS system after someone calls 911.
You don't have time to purchase an ambulance.
You don't have time to train a paramedic.
You don't have time to learn CPR.
There isn't time to order medical equipment.
There isn't time to figure out how to respond.
It all has to be ready BEFORE the emergency happens.
The next call could happen today.
It could happen tomorrow.
It could happen to someone you know.
It could happen to you.
🚨AND WHEN THAT CALL COMES...
We want our people ready.
We want our ambulances ready.
We want our equipment ready.
We want our communities ready.
For more than six decades, Valders EMS has adapted, learned, and grown.
From a 1959 station wagon to three front-line ALS ambulances, the mission hasn't changed:
We are your neighbors.
We are your responders.
We are your EMS.
