The Wimberley Emergency Medical Services has reached a new milestone. In 2025, a third ambulance will be put into service which will allow the hiring of six to nine additional EMS staff.
With the addition of a new ambulance, the total number of vehicles owned by Wimberley EMS will amount to five, however two vehicles are always outside the rotation for maintenance and service.
EMS Director Ken Strange, who assumed the role in 2004, explained, “For those times when our crews would go from one call to the next, it led to the decision to add an ambulance and more staff.” The district is roughly divided into north and south regions. One ambulance and crew generally covers one region while the other ambulance and its medics serve the other. In 2025 when staff is fully installed, one ambulance will service the north, where fewer calls originate, and two will service the busier southern area.
Currently, the facility is staffed by fifteen medics and four office staff. They are charged with the emergency care of 30,000 people over a 142-square mile area. On weekends and during the summer, that figure can go as high as 50,000.
Wimberley EMS answers 2,200 calls each year. When asked if there are peak times for calls, Strange said, “there’s no rhyme or reason, no pattern to it.” Despite common expectations, “Full moons and holiday weekends don’t seem to impact the numbers at all,” he said.
Most of their cases are centered around medical issues rather than incidents of trauma. At this time, their 8,000 square foot facility at 220 Twilight Trail accommodates three crews who work 48hour shifts.
When residents dial 911, the call goes to a dispatcher in San Marcos who simultaneously routes the call to Wimberley EMS, Wimberley Fire and Rescue and the Sheriff’s office. Trauma patients are taken to Seton Hays in Kyle, a Level 2 trauma center. Patients suffering heart attacks and strokes are taken to hospitals and medical centers in San Marcos.
As 2025 approaches, Strange is seeking places to house the new ambulance and accommodate new crew members during their 48-hour shift. Whether it is a purchased house or a leased property remains to be seen.
“It may be possible to park the new ambulance at Wimberley Fire and Rescue,” Strange said, just blocks away at 111 Green Acres Dr. The Wimberley Independent School District and Wimberley Fire and Rescue are in talks again to build an additional substation on Blue Hole property owned by WISD. “If those talks lead to a commitment, a bay for the ambulance could be available. However, it could be roughly three years before the Blue Hole Fire substation would be completed.”
