Wake County emergency response officials met with some Cary residents Wednesday night to talk about response times.

Some folks living west of NC 55 say they've had to wait for more than 20 minutes for an ambulance to show up.

"I feel like the EMS response times just don't match up," said Cary resident Ron Fazio, whose next door neighbor and father both had long wait times. "I don't know. I'm a little concerned with that."

Dr. Brent Myers, director of Wake County EMS, said those examples are exceptions to the rule.

Myers presented data showing that first responders with the Cary Fire Department usually arrive in less than four minutes, which he said is both vital and much quicker than most other metro areas in the country.

"When you need help and you need it right now, your firefighters at the nearest fire house are going to lend you that aid," said Myers. "What comes after that is your well-trained paramedic in an ambulance, and that response time is important, of course, but it's not as important as the response time of the fire department."

Cary Area EMS recently moved an ambulance to the Davis and High House Road area, which should help with response times.

There are plans to put another ambulance in West Cary within a few years, but Myers said right now, there isn't enough need: a new unit would only get a call every two and a half days if it were put there today.

With a shrinking budget, Myers said that type of targeted coverage simply isn't feasible; he's only got 38 ambulances to allocate for all of Wake County.

"All of our ambulances are available border to border. We don't have a district for an ambulance," said Myers. "The ambulance has a GPS locator on it, and the nearest ambulance to your call is dispatched to your house."

"They have to go by the law of averages and they're seeing how many calls come in from certain areas and then put the ambulances where they need to be," said Fazio. "I understand that totally, but when it's your family member..."

Fazio and other critics of the current setup say areas like West Cary are growing at such a fast pace that there needs to be an ambulance there now.

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