Since starting ambulance service, the Mason City Fire Department has responded to approximately 39,308 calls for service, which include 9-1-1 responses and inter-facility patient transports. Mason City Fire Department regularly transports both emergent and non-emergency patients from Mercy Medical Center North Iowa in Mason City to hospitals in Rochester, Minneapolis, Des Moines and Iowa City. The Department has also transported patients as far away as Duluth, MN, Kansas City, MO, Omaha, NE, and Rapid City, SD and to hospitals in Wisconsin and Illinois.
The Mason City Fire Department is 100% cross-trained, meaning that all staff members are certified to work both as firefighters and on the ambulances as well. The Department is staffed full-time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are three battalions of 13 firefighters each. The Department is led by Fire Chief Bob Platts, Deputy Chief of Operations Doug Janssen and Deputy Chief of EMS Dave Johnson. Deputy Chief Mark Christiansen serves as Fire Marshal.
The Department is capable of delivering the highest-level of pre-hospital care available in the state of Iowa. Mason City Fire Medics are trained and certified in Advanced Cardiac Life Support and can perform and interpret twelve-lead EKGs on scene and transmit it instantly to a cardiologist literally within minutes. Medics are also capable of providing advanced airway placement, can start IVs and can administer numerous emergency medications in the field, as well as provide advanced care to trauma victims.
The Mason City Fire Department enjoys solid working relationships with area volunteer fire Departments, first responders, law enforcement and ambulance services to provide Advanced Life Support to outlying regions. While the Mason City Fire Department provides fire protection to Mason City and 30 square miles of rural area, the MCFD EMS provides ambulance service to numerous cities and towns throughout Cerro Gordo and Worth Counties covering a total service area over 750 square miles. The Department also provides mutual aid and paramedic level assists to ambulance services in Wright, Hancock, Winnebago, Floyd, Franklin, Mitchell and Butler counties as well.
MCFD also works closely with area law enforcement to provide on-scene medical support during high-risk warrant arrests, searches, armed standoffs, bomb threats and counter-narcotic operations by the North Iowa Counter Narcotics Task Force. The Department also regularly provides contracted services to provide medical support for youth hockey, high school football games, rodeo events, fireworks displays, mixed martial arts, and local running and bicycling events.
In 2007, the Mason City Fire Department was recognized by the Iowa Emergency Medical Services Association when it received the “Career Service of the Year” award after only three years of operation.
