PORT ARTHUR, Texas — Less than two months after signing a new contract to provide service to the City of Port Arthur, Acadian Ambulance has announced it will be withdrawing.
The company blamed its decision on the addition of a second ambulance company back in November 2023 saying in a statement they feel the multi-provider system is “not viable.”
The company will stop servicing the City of Port Arthur on March 2, 2024, according to a news release Thursday afternoon from the city.
"I want to assure the citizens that we will be covered," said Port Arthur Mayor Thurman Bartie.
Acadian Ambulance had previously been the sole ambulance company serving the city for 17 years.
Following concerns about emergency response times the city added a second ambulance service, City Ambulance Service, to serve the city in November 2023.
A week later Acadian Ambulance chose not to sign their new contract and stopped serving the city for several weeks according to file stories.
Acadian began serving the city again on Dec. 6, 2023 after resigning a contract with the city that was good through November 2024.
Ambulance companies are required to follow all city ordinances including providing response times within eight minutes 90% of the time, Port Arthur Fire Chief Greg Benson told 12News in 2023.
“While not the ideal service model, we were hopeful we could have professional and productive conversations with the City as we moved forward to implement the multi-agency EMS system they decided upon,” Acadian Ambulance President Justin Back said in the Feb. 1, 2024 statement.
The City of Port Arthur hired City Ambulance in November to help with response times.
Acadian said in their statement they feel the best way to provide 911 ambulance service is by having a single ambulance service which would allow the single provider to be held accountable.
“A fair and equitable system has not been established. There has been a lack of communication from the City regarding the rotation and operational plan for both services,” Back said in the statement.
He also said that city had not responded to most of the company’s requests over the past two months for meetings to review operation plans.
By March, City Ambulance will be the sole responding emergency service for Port Arthur residents.
"They have lived up to their contractual agreement," said Bartie. "In particular, City Ambulance has actually been the sole provider for about a month."
An Acadian Ambulance representative made a presentation to Port Arthur City Council members on Jan. 8, 2024, according to a file story.
During the Jan 8 presentation, the Acadian representative admitted there were times when the company had "level zero" for Port Arthur, which means there were times when an ambulance was simply not available.
Bartie says that it's going to be sad to see Acadian stop servicing the city after 17 years.
"I know to disengage yourself from a contractual agreement, there are some terms in the original agreement that allows that. So I'm for sure they are within their legal right to make the announcement," he said.
Acadian says they will keep providing service until City Ambulance is prepared to assume all 911 services in Port Arthur.
City Ambulance tells 12News they have a plan to offer fast services.
"By putting ambulances in the communities through a staging or posting deployment strategy within the fire department we did see great success," said Vice President Andre Ruby.
Ruby is confident that City Ambulance can take on the new job.
"Currently we do offer six dedicated units to the City of Port Arthur, then we'll increase to a minimum staffing of eight units a day with the availability to then increase to twelve units a day should we need it," said Ruby.
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This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.