1983-013 No
AN ORDINANCE REGULATING THE OPERATION OF ~MERGENCY AMBULANCES
AND TRANSFSR AMBULANCES IN TH5 CITY OF DSNTON, £EXAS, AMENDING
CHAPTER 26 OF THE COD~ OF ORDINANCES BY ADD1NG THERETO A NEW
ARTICLE V REGULATING EMERGENCY AMBULANCES AND TRANSFER AMBU-
LANCES, REGULATING ATTENDANTb AND DRIVERS O~ AMBULANCES, AND
DFCLARING AN EFFSCTIVE DATE
THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DENTON, ~EXAS, HERLBY ORDAINS
SECTION I
Chapter 26 of the Code of Ordinances of the City ot Denton,
Texas is hereby amended by adding thereto a new Article V read-
lng as follows
ARTICLE V
AMBULANCSS
Section 26-65 Definitions
Section 26-66 Emergency Service by Fire Department
Section 26-67 Private Emergency Service Regulations
Section 26-68 Transfer Ambulance Service Regulations
Section 26-69 Attendant/Drivers Regulated
Section 26-70 False Statement of Emergency
Section 25-65 DEFINITIONS
For the purpose of this article, the following words anO
phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them in
this section
(a) ATTENDANT/DRIVER means a person who is qualified to care
for a patient transported by a transfer ambulance and who is
also quallfled to drive a transfer ambulance
(b) CHIEF OF POLIC5 means the chief of police of the City of
Denton or his duly authorized representative
(c) CITY means the City of Denton, Texas
(d) DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC HEALTH means the director of the
department designated by the city manager to enforce and
administer this article or the director's authorized
representative
(e) EMERGENCY means any circumstances that calls for ~mme-
dlate action and in which the element o~ time in transporting
the sick, wounded or ~n]ured for medical treatment ~s essential
PAGE 1
to the health or life of the person Such circumstances
include, but are not llm~ted to, acclGents generally, tral~lc
accidents, and acts of v~olence resulting in personal injury,
and sudden illness
(f) EMERGENCY AMBULANC5 means any motor vehicle especially
designed, constructed, equlpped, and use~ £or transporting the
injured or sick ~n answer to an emergency call
(g) EMERGENCY CALL means any request for ambulance service
that is made by telephone or other means of communication in
circumstances which are, or have been represented to be, an
emergency and requ*r~ng immediate ambulance service
(h) EMER~SNCY RUN means the emergency ambulance trip to the
place where the emergency exists, or from the place of such
emergency to a hospital, medlcal clinic, or othsr appropriate
destination for the patient
(1) FIRE DEPARTMENT means the flre department of the Clty of
Denton
(]) OPERATOR means any ~na~v~ual, firm or corporation
engaged ~n the business of transporting the ~n3ure~, woundea,
s~ck or dead and using the streets of the city for such purpose
(k) STREET means any street, alley, uvenue, boulevard, dr~ve
or highway commonly used for the nur~o~e of travel wlthln the
corporate l~mlts oi the clty
(1) ~RANSFER AMBULANCE means any motor vehicle constructed,
equipped and used for transferring the ln3ured or sick unGer
circumstances whlch do not constitute an emergency anG which
have not been represented as an emergency
Section 26-66 EMSRGENCY 5RVIC~ PROVIDED 5Y FIRE DSPARiMfNi,
FEE
(a) The flre department of the city shall provide emergency
ambulance service w~thln the c~ty
(b) The city shall charge the £ollowlng fees for emergency
umbulance services in the city provided ~n response to a call
PAG5 2
received by the fire department requesting the ~ervlces
1 $70 00 per person for the transport ol a person
from any location to a hospital, and
2 In addition to tile above, $1 00 per mile per person
shall be charged for the one way distance travele~
beyond the jurisdictional limits ot the County of
Denton for the transport to or f~om a location
outside the County of Denton
(c) The person receiving emergency ambulance service aha any
person contracting for the service shall be responsible for
payment of the fee In the case of service received by a minor,
the parent or guardian of the minor shall be responsible for
payment of the fee
Section 26-67 PRIVATE EMERGENCY SSRVICE RSGULA~IONS
(a) It shall be unlawful for any person, either as owner,
agent, or otherwlse, other than a member oi the fire department,
an agency of the United States or the State of ~exas, to
furnish, operate, conduct, maintain, advertise or otherwise be
engaged in or profess to be engaged in the operation
emergency ambulance service, upon the streets, alleys, or any
public way or place within the city, for the purpose of picking
up patients within the city, except ~n the following
circumstances
1 It shall not be unlawful for a person operating a
transfer ambulance in the city, upon responGlng to
a direct call for nonemergency transfer ambulance
service, to operate such ambulance under emergency
conditions, using emergency equipment, after
notifying the fire alarm dispatcher and requesting
permission to make an emergency run, when a deter-
mlnatlon is made by th~ transfer ambulance
attendant that an emergency exists requiring the
s~ck or injured person to be transported w~th all
practical speed to a hospital
2 It shall not be unlawful for any person operatln9 a
transfer ambulance in the city, ~ho is pertormlng
the service of maintaining an ~mbulance at a
particular location for a sporting event, to
operate such ambulance under emergency conGltlons,
using emergency equipment, after notifying the fire
alarm dispatcher and requesting permission to mak£
an emergency run, when a determination is made by
the transfer ambulance attendant that ~n emergency
exists requiring the sick or ln3ured person to be
transported with all practical speed to a hospital
PAGE 3
3 It shall not be unlawful for any person to operat£
an emergency ambulance to a hospital w~th~n the
city, if the place of emergency at whlch the sick
or ~n]ured person was p~cke~ up by such ambulance
lb outside the city llmlts and the ambulance making
the emergency run is licensed and operated ~n
accordance wlth Article 459b, V T C S , provided,
that the operator f~rst not~i~es the fire alarm
d~spatcher of the route over which the emerqency
run will be made
4 It shall not be unlawful for any person to operate
a transfer ambulance ~n the city on an emergency
run when f~re department ambulances are not ava~l-
able, and the fire alarm dispatcher requests the
operator to furnish back-up emergency ambulance
service for the ilre department
(b) Any person operating a transfer ambulance in the city
who makes an emergency run under the provisions of subparagraph
(1) or (2) above, shall w~thln ten (10) days of each such
emergency run, submit to the d~rector of public health, a r£port
on a form provided by h~m, which shall descrlbe the circum-
stances requiring the emergency run
Sectlon 26-68 TRANSFER AMBULANCk R~GULA~ION5
(a) No person shall operate or cau%e to be operated for
patient p~ckup in the c~ty any transfer ambulance w~thout t~rst
having complied with the following requirements
1 Each vehicle shall be suppl~e~ with a first
kit and emergency equipment required by the
Texas Department of Public Health an~ approved
by the local trauma committee of the American
College of Surgeons
2 5ach vehicle must be accompanied by two
attendant/drivers who are currently certified
by the State of ~exas as emergency care
attendants or emergency medlcal technicians
3 Safety mechanisms oi the vehicle must be
operative and ~n good repair, ~nclu~lng but not
l~mlted to headlights, taillights, turn
s~gnals, brakes, brakel~ghts, emergency llghts,
windshield w~pers, wiper blades, handles
opening doors and w~ndows, tires and spare tlre
(b) No person shall operate or permit the operation of a
transier ambulance on any emergency run or ~n response to any
emergency call nor with the use oi emergency l~ghts ana siren,
unless requested to do so by the fire alarm d~spatcher ~n case
of a ma]or catastrophe
PAQE 4
Section 26-69 ATTLNDANT/DRIVLR'S RLGULA~IONS
(a) No person shall drive a transfer ambuldnce or act as an
attendant of a transfer ambulance without £1rst having complied
with the following requirements
1 Each driver or attendant shall currantly hold a
valid Texas chauffeur's l~cense
2 Each attendant shall currently be registered by
the State oi Texas as an emergency care
attendant or emergency medical technician
3 NO dr~ver or attendant shall have a record of
final conviction of a felony or a crime
involving use or possession of narcotics or
operating a vehicle under the ~n~luence of
drugs or ~ntoxlcatlng l~quor or driving wh~le
license has been suspended w~th~n the five year
period ~mmedlately preceding h~ or her
employment
Section 26-70 FALSE STATEMENT Of EMERGENCY
It shall be unlawful for any person to willfully inform the
f~re alarm dispatcher, police d~spatcher or other £~re or police
official that an ambulance or more than one ambulance ~s needed
at a location or address when such person knows that such
statement ~s ~alse
SECTION II
Th~s ordinance shall become eifect~ve from and after ~ts
date oi passage
PASSED AND APPROVED this the~'~/~_ day o~ ~/~~_, 1983
RiCIiA2~ ~ Si~WA~-~, ~axu~
ATTEST
CItY OF DENTON, TEXAS
APPROVED AS TO LEGAL FORM
C J TAYLOR, JR , CITY ATTORNEY
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS
PAGE 5