(Red Oak) During its regular meeting tonight, the Red Oak City Council will consider Resolution 2026-63, which would authorize the City Administrator to provide written notice to the City of Emerson that the Red Oak Fire Department will discontinue emergency medical service (EMS) responses to Emerson effective Monday, July 13, 2026, unless the two communities reach a written agreement.
Under Iowa law, emergency medical services are not currently classified as an essential service. Cities are not legally required to provide ambulance service within their own community or to neighboring jurisdictions unless they choose to do so. Red Oak has continued responding to EMS calls in Emerson during negotiations, but city officials say there is no obligation to continue providing that service without a written agreement.
Emerson has chosen to enter into an ambulance service agreement with the City of Malvern rather than move forward with the proposed 28E agreement with Red Oak. According to city staff, while Red Oak respects Emerson’s decision, there is no written agreement defining Red Oak’s role in providing Advanced Life Support (ALS) services or backup ambulance response to Emerson.
City staff also noted that the agreement between Malvern and Emerson references an agreement with Red Oak for ALS care. However, Red Oak says that the existing agreement applies only to the Malvern response area and does not include Emerson. The city also stated it was not consulted before that reference was included in the Malvern-Emerson agreement. If ALS support for Emerson is requested in the future, staff said it would be appropriate to establish a three-way 28E agreement with compensation based on the responding agency.
The Emerson City Council is scheduled to meet on July 8, and the Red Oak City Administrator plans to attend to clarify Red Oak’s position and determine whether Emerson wishes to continue discussions regarding a written agreement.
If Emerson decides to pause implementation of its agreement with Malvern and continue negotiations with Red Oak for backup or ALS coverage, the notice would not be issued, and negotiations toward a mutually acceptable 28E agreement would continue. If no meaningful progress is made, the City Administrator will issue a notice that Red Oak Fire Department EMS responses to Emerson will end effective July 13, 2026.
According to city staff, adopting Resolution 2026-63 now would allow Red Oak to respond promptly following the July 8 meeting while maintaining flexibility should discussions between the two communities resume.
The meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. at the Red Oak Fire Station.
