Integrating MedicWest ambulance units into the system is helping North Las Vegas fire officials close coverage gaps and significantly improve emergency response times

NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. — The North Las Vegas Fire Department is working to cut emergency response times by improving coordination with MedicWest, a private ambulance provider.

Chief Joseph Calhoun said the city changed its approach to the partnership around 2022 after realizing the department could not track MedicWest vehicles or control their deployment, KTNV reported.

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Calhoun said the city now purchases the units. At the same time, MedicWest provides the personnel and vehicles, allowing the ambulances to operate within the department’s system and be dispatched like any other city unit.

He said that the arrangement allows the department to strategically place MedicWest units in areas with coverage gaps to improve response across North Las Vegas.

“As a department, we’re very data-driven. We look at where trends are happening, where we have growth going on and we do that monthly,” Calhoun said. “We look at where we’re missing the mark on certain types of calls, and we can make changes to our system, especially our MedicWest units that we lease.”

The North Las Vegas Fire Department has improved response times since 2022, with several call types now meeting the industry benchmark of hitting target times 90% of the time.

Officials said the department raised its on-time response rate for the most urgent Priority 1 calls from about 70% in 2022 to nearly 86% in the first quarter of 2026, while Priority 5 calls improved from about 76% to 94%.

“This year, to continue to fine-tune those numbers, we added middle-of-the-day-when-we’re-busy ambulance from MedicWest, an ILS ambulance for some of our lower acuity calls, and then Station 51 is opening at the end of this year which will then provide additional coverage in that area and free up some of those MedicWest units for us to fill in gaps in the other part of the city,” Calhoun said.

He said the department is encouraged by its progress but remains focused on continued improvement and providing the strongest possible service to the community.

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