Air ambulance service returning to Rainbow City

The Rainbow City Council at its Monday meeting approved a lease with an air ambulance service, to restore local helicopter service for medical emergencies to the Etowah County area.

Arkansas-based Survival Flight will locate at the city-owned property on Steele Station Road, leased for $600 a month, with a 5% increase upon renewal.

Council member Rick Hill, who took the lead in recruiting a new service after Air Methods' abrupt departure earlier this year, said he hopes that Survival Flight can be on-site by Sept. 1.

One of the stumbling blocks is removal of a trailer that housed Air Methods' office at the site.

When council members questioned when the trailer was slated to be removed, Hill said it was supposed to have been removed Monday, but as far as anyone knew, that had not happened by meeting time.

The council also approved placement of a double-wide trailer there to be used as an office space for the new air ambulance tenant. It will be city property, paid for out of fire tax money, so that the city won’t be left waiting, as it has been, for a trailer to be removed to make room for a new tenant.

Assistant Fire Chief Richard Johnson said the new air ambulance service cannot come fast enough. Since Air Methods left Rainbow City, the nearest air ambulance is located in Talladega County, and it sometimes can’t travel fast enough to help emergency patients.

He said there recently was a bad wreck in Glencoe, and medics were given a 32-minute estimate for a helicopter’s arrival. They opted to cancel the chopper and transport the patient by ground ambulance.