INDIAN ROCKS BEACH, Fla. — New data shows that emergency response times are falling below county standards in a roughly six-mile stretch of communities across Pinellas County’s barrier island.

Pinellas County standards dictate that a fire department’s Advanced Life Support paramedic when dispatched to an emergency, must respond within 7 minutes and 30 seconds 90% of the time.

What You Need To Know

  •  Fire department ALS paramedics are required to be on scene in 7 minutes and 30 seconds 90% of the time

  •  Statistics in Belleair Beach, Belleair Shores and north Indian Rocks Beach fall below that mark

  •  Pinellas Suncoast fire chief hoping for additional station, staff 

In northern Indian Rocks Beach and Belleair Shores, first responders hit that mark 82% of time, while in Belleair Beach the response rate dipped to 73%.

In 2022, Pinellas Suncoast Fire & Rescue logged a number of calls where critical patients had to wait over 30 minutes for an ambulance to arrive to transport them to the hospital. In one incident report, a person fell from a ladder in cardiac arrest and it took 40 minutes and 59 seconds for an ambulance to arrive. In a second report, a 90-year-old who suffered a fall had to wait 39 minutes for an ambulance transport.

Pinellas Suncoast Chief Jeffrey Davidson acknowledges that emergency response times are an issue in some of Pinellas County’s coastal communities. He says because the only way to get to many calls is by using Gulf Boulevard, the amount of pedestrians, bicyclists, and cars on the two-lane road make it nearly impossible to pass quickly.

“It’s not just a summer time problem. It's a year round problem, the number of visitors we have here is unbelievable,” he said.

The crux of the issue, Davidson said, is centered in the northern Indian Rocks Beach and Belleair communities.

Pinellas Suncoast has a fire station located on 1st Street in Indian Rocks Beach, but the next closest station is on Sand Key, roughly 5.8 miles away. Davidson said that’s the biggest gap between stations in the county.

Pinellas Suncoast Fire Rescue has budgeted to build an additional fire station roughly two miles north of their current location. Davidson feels that will make it so his first responders can get to emergencies faster. It would be up to the county to pay for the two additional paramedics and a transport vehicle totaling roughly 1.3 million.

Davidson’s request was one of 17 budget upgrade requests made from different fire and rescue departments around the county. The request for additional staff and a new unit from Pinellas Suncoast was tabled and put on a list to be considered in future years. The reason for rejection was due to the call volume for the area was within standard for their current staffing numbers.

Davidson was frustrated by the rejection and says it has never been a call volume issue, but an access issue.

“There’s an identified need, I’m trying to solve the problem and it was not even considered,” he said.

Spectrum Bay News 9 reached out to Pinellas County for a response regarding EMS response times. This story will be updated when we learn more.