Local residents who are members of LifeGuard, the program that covers the cost of ground ambulance trips, will receive a renewal notice around the first of September and will need to renew by Sept. 30 to ensure their coverage doesn’t lapse.

They will also need to have a separate subscription to LifeFlight to cover air transport.

Prior to last year, residents who wanted ground ambulance coverage had to subscribe to FireMed. But those memberships were transferred to LifeGuard when Metro West replaced the Baker City Fire Department as ambulance provider for Baker City and much of the rest of Baker County, including the Huntington area.

Jason Yencopal, Baker County’s emergency manager, has been overseeing the transition from FireMed, the program the city used, to LifeGuard, the program that Metro West offers.

LifeFlight is a separate program, and a joint membership covering air and ground transport is not available. The www.LifeFlight.org membership page currently offers memberships for $75.

The transition started about a year ago, after Baker City officials announced the city’s fire department would end ambulance service Sept. 30, 2022.

Baker County, which is legally responsible for choosing ambulance providers throughout the county, chose Metro West Ambulance of Hillsboro.

Residents who had lifetime memberships in FireMed received a prorated refund from Baker City.

Metro West agreed to honor non-lifetime FireMed memberships until they expired.

“LifeGuard membership covers the ground aspect,” Yencopal said. “When Metro West became the emergency transport service provider they honored all of the existing membership plans and then worked with those that came time for renewal to prorate them, so they would all expire this year on September 30th.”

LifeGuard has an annual fee of $59, slightly more than the FireMed rate. More information is available at www.AmbulanceMembership.com/Baker-County.