Clear Creek EMS

  • CCEMS needs a third ambulance to properly respond to calls. CCEMS responds to 700-800 calls per ambulance, compared to 400-500 for similar EMS services.

  • CCEMS’s proximity to hospitals results in extended out of county times compared to most other departments. This resulted in CCEMS requesting a mutual aid ambulance to stand by for its response area more than 100 times in 2024—meaning roughly every 3 days there is a time when all CCEMS ambulances are on calls and unable to respond in its own service area.

  • CCEMS currently owns five physical ambulances—three of which have more than 100,000 miles and are aging rapidly. Due to increasing call volumes, CCEMS is putting 1,000 miles per week on the first out ambulances, which means that up to 2 of those ambulances are often out of the county for maintenance. CCEMS needs a sixth ambulance in order to maintain a fully operable fleet.

CCEMS operates two full time and one part time advanced life support ambulances that are staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. CCEMS’s paramedics are critical-care endorsed to provide higher level interventions than comparable ambulance services in Colorado. This higher level of care is required because of the longer transport times and the remoteness of the county.

This directly benefits our community members. CCEMS’s cardiac save rate is 25 percent over the past 4 years, compared to 10 percent for Colorado and 8 percent nationally.

CCEMS is funded through a voter-approved 0.65% sales tax; however, current service levels have maxed out this revenue source. EMS currently faces a $500,000 operating deficit, with just $200,000 left in its fund balance. It will likely need support from the county’s General Fund next year just to maintain current service levels.

Clear Creek EMS provides ambulance and emergency medical transport services for most of Clear Creek County. CCEMS employs 20 full-time paramedics and EMTs.

Several of the key challenges facing CCEMS include:

  • Call rates have increased every year since the sales tax was approved by voters except for 2020 because of the pandemic. Last year, CCEMS responded to 1,968 calls for service, about 800 responses per ambulance per year. Comparable ambulance services in similar communities respond to about 500 calls per year per ambulance.

  • Approximately 600 calls for service are directly related to I-70 and U.S. 6 and U.S. 40.

  • Closest hospital from Clear Creek County is St. Anthony in Lakewood. A typical ambulance trip to the hospital is about 2 hours, taking that ambulance out of service. This required CCEMS to ask Gilpin Ambulance Authority to standby more than 100 times last year.

The current 0.65% sales tax approved by voters in 2019 has not provided funding to keep pace with the significant increase in EMS calls and operations.

  • Call volume has increased nearly every year since the sales tax was implemented. In 2019, CCEMS had 1,581 calls for service. That has increased to 1,968 in 2024.

  • CCEMS remounts ambulance boxes onto new chassis, saving approximately $200,000 compared to purchasing a brand new ambulance. In 2021, a remount cost $128,185, That cost has increased to $188,950 in 2024.

  • In 2019, budgeted employee salary and benefits totaled $1,344,596. That budgeted cost is now $2,178,127. This increase has been done periodically through market analysis to ensure pay is comparable with competing EMS providers. Despite increases, CCEMS employees are nowhere near the top of pay scales in the region.

  • Vehicle repair costs have increased from $43,123 in 2019 to $65,000 in 2025.

  • Medical supply costs have jumped from $40,000 in 2019 to $90,000 in 2025.

  • Fuel costs have more than doubled from $22,000 in 2019 to $45,000 in 2025.

Moving forward, CCEMS needs a third ambulance in 24/7 operation, requiring three additional paramedics/EMTs and another vehicle. Doing this would bring the annual trip level down to 650 per ambulance per year. The department ultimately needs six ambulances to meet future needs and provide redundancy if any vehicles need to go out of service (which they do on a regular basis due to increasing calls volume and equipment use).