Can someone explain to me, if an ambulance is called and used to go to TV hospital, is there a charge for this? Or is this service covered in our amenity fee?

U will be charged for the ambulance bill

All new to me...how much is an ambulance bill?

Are the times you quoted accurate?
The fire department first responders should have been on the scene in around five minutes.
They than determine whether the ems should respond fast or slow by the extent of the injuries of the patient. Than again the first police officer on the scene could have made the call for a fast or slow response. This is done because there have been too many deaths and injuries due to all out quick response by our public safety personnel on our roads.
I am a retired firefighter/paramedic.

Info I have gotten from my daughter who is a medic south of Orlando is a basic ambulance with two EMT's will probably cost between $1000-$1200. If you get a medic unit and they do any treatmeant it will go up from there. Most often this is covered in part or in whole by ur health ins. Or if an auto accident then by ur car ins.

Is there a charge here in TheVillages?

Where I am from in West Chester, Ohio, there is no charge for an ambulance.

Perhaps this is something we all think will be like from whence we came.

Is there a fee for EMS?

Yes there is a fee. It will be from Rural Metro who has the contract to provide EMS for Sumter County. They are the ones in the blue Sumter County ambulances. The Villages does not charge for the paramedics to show up but when the ambulance shows up and transports you to the hospital there will be charges to you.

Most of the time The Villages EMS is on scene in 4-5 mins from receipt of call. The ambulance/medics are dispatched simultaneously and may arrive before or after the firefighter/medics. But if everyone is busy and units have to stage to cover other areas or they are all busy and have to rely on mutual aid then obviously it will take longer.

I had an opportunity to listen to the head of this Department. It took me by surprise to hear him say that given the costs of fire trucks he was not about to let them sit idle. According to him 90% of calls were medial and 10% fire oriented. It would seem that given the critical response time for a medical emergency time would be a major factor. Perhaps I am wrong but it would seem that a fire truck would never be able to beat the response time of medical emergency vehicles??????

I am always surprised when a full-fledged fire truck arrives in addition to the paramedic trucks. Why send a hugely expensive fire truck to a medical emergency? There must be a very good reason?

There is a very good reason. Engines respond with at most 3 and usually 2 personnel on it. They come from a fixed location and are usually tied up for at most an hour on scene. The ambulance/medics are coming from a staging point but they may or may not be closer to the call. This way there are maybe 4-5 personnel on scene to help with the patient. If all are not needed then the engine goes back in service and can respond to another call. If u use an engine it can be very versatile to respond to either fire or EMS. If u have just EMS responders on an ambulance there r only 2 on a crew. Sometimes that's not enough help. Accidents, cardiac arrests, obese patients are just some of the reasons 2 man crews r insufficient.

Spent a long time in EMS, almost always the engine was first on scene. An engine is always easier to see and most give way to a fire truck quicker than an ambulance. It is rare that an ambulance will beat an engine but it is a race to save a life, not for a trophy. Plus in most jurisdictions u r supposed to go the speed limit or maybe 10 over.

HMLRHT1, that was the first coherent answer I've ever gotten to my firetruck question.

One of the biggest reasons is cost savings as over the years fire dept personnel have become much more multi-function personnel. In The Villages I believe there is a 2 mile radius for fire station coverage but the ambulances cover a much larger area thus creating a slightly longer response time.
The process is supposed to work as the fire dept being the 1st responder to the medical call and will start medical treatment. The ambulance arrives and continues that treatment to the hospital.
In my years in the fire service the fire engine would almost always be 1st on scene. Another advantage to this is the turn time for the responders. A fire engine may be committed to a medical call for a short period of time while an ambulance on a medical call could be committed to that call for an hour of more.