YOUNGSTOWN — A new location at a former fire station on Oak Street for Emergency Medical Transport, which provides ambulance services in Youngstown, will provide quicker response times for those in need of assistance on the city’s East Side, the company’s CEO said.

EMT opened its third location in Youngstown on Monday at the former Fire Station No. 2, which closed in September 1980. It was a clothing donation drop-off location for years and was last used two years ago by the city street department to store tractors.

This is EMT’s third location in the city to go along with its main location on East Midlothian Boulevard on the southeast side and another on Belmont Avenue on the North Side, said Kenneth Joseph, its CEO.

“We get our vehicles moved throughout the city, instead of bunched up in two locations,” he said. “We’ll be able to get to the East Side quicker.”

EMT purchased the former East Side fire station in July 2024 from the city for $46,320 after council declared it surplus.

EMT spent about $165,000 to improve the building, Joseph said.

There will be one main ambulance at the East Side location with a backup, Joseph said.

Fire Chief Barry Finley said: “This will be great for response time to the East Side and the North Side. This is a good location for them.”

The city signed a three-year agreement in December 2022 to pay $3.968 million in total to EMT for ambulance service using American Rescue Plan money with a two-year renewal option.

The city administration decided July 4 to let the contract, which expires Dec. 31, automatically roll over for another two years. EMT will get a 3% increase in 2026 to $1,403,061 and another 3% increase in 2027 to $1,445,153 in 2027. The city will have to fund the ambulance expenses through its general fund.

“The city has been very happy with the service we’ve received,” Finley said. Joseph “runs a tight ship. We haven’t received any complaints about the service.”

Joseph said EMT could open additional spots in Youngstown if it finds the right ones.

“We’ve got our eyes open for other locations that make sense for us,” he said. “We want to spread it out. This location makes us more evenly distributed throughout the community.”

A $44,500 study, paid by Youngstown, determined that a city-run ambulance service may be feasible at least five years from now — costing more than $5.6 million in just its first year — and it would be best to renew its contract with EMT to handle that for the foreseeable future.

The study states it would cost the city $5,612,678 to create its own ambulance service with $1.44 million going toward the purchase of six ambulances, $2,574,060 to hire 36 employees with the rest of the expenses for ambulance and communications equipment and training.

With salaries and benefits making up a large part of the expense of future years, operating a city-run ambulance service the year after buying the vehicles would cost $2,899,058 and increase to $3,424,909 by the fifth year, according to the study.