Presidio
With border wall construction still possible through Presidio County and Big Bend State Park, residents and officials are growing increasingly worried about the impact that wall construction would have on the fragile local EMS system. Their concerns have been met with silence from state and federal officials
“The system is already stressed,” said Troy Sparks, the head of the Presidio EMS station, which operates a single round-the-clock ambulance crew covering from Candelaria to Lajitas. Sparks told Big Bend Sentinel that currently a single call can tie up the crew for up to seven hours, delaying care for others.
Sparks said that no one from the state or federal governments, nor TxDOT, has approached the city to discuss the border wall plan. John Ferguson, the mayor of Presidio said the same.
“Normally if a project like this comes to town, like when they built Lajitas, contractors will come by and talk about the level of service and availability of resources,” said Terlingua EMS Chief Susan Martin. “We’ve had nothing like that whatsoever.”
Martin voiced concerns about accessing patients over rugged terrain, especially if construction crews are working away from the road and would require being carried out by stretcher. Her station has a single ambulance to answer calls and a recently-outfitted Chevy Suburban for personnel to handle minor incidents.
The proposed wall shows a route snaking through Presidio and the state park, roughly following the course of the Rio Grande. The famous FM 170 highway follows the same route. The road offers scenic vistas through the park and numerous blind hills and sharp turns. At present, accidents along the road are limited, as visitors are inclined to go slowly to take in the view, and locals know the road well enough to avoid risks. Crews unfamiliar with the terrain, or operating heavy machinery, could face more risk.
On March 4, Presidio County sheriff’s deputies responded to an incident on FM 170 west of the county line in which a backhoe driver lost control descending “Big Hill” east of Presidio and collided with a rock wall. The department’s statement noted: “Due to the tractor’s weight, it broke through the wall and ended up near the river. Fortunately, the driver sustained only minor injuries and was transported to Big Bend Regional Medical Center in Alpine.”
The Texas Department of Transportation acknowledged that they are responsible for the planning, design, maintenance, construction and daily operation of FM170 but did not respond to repeated requests for comment regarding the impact of border wall construction, or plans to accommodate increased construction traffic along the two-lane road. The Presidio EMS chief had no illusions about the repercussions.
“Any increase in construction is going to mean an increase in incidents—that’s a given—and an increase in the inevitable incidents means that the ambulance will be pulled away that’s meant to serve the community,” Sparks said.
Unlike construction sites of other sections of the border wall, Presidio County lies far from both major cities and major highways. Residents are aware that there is limited-to-no backup resources, and a medical emergency often requires an air transport. Even those services are strained. There are only two air medical services in the area, departing from Alpine and Fort Stockton. In recent cases, help has been sought from as far away as San Angelo and El Paso, each 300 miles away.
Both the Terlingua and Presidio EMS chiefs praised a strong commitment to mutual aid, while acknowledging its limitations. “Is this going to overwhelm us? Yes. We already can’t handle two calls. And we can’t call Marfa as backup, they are short-staffed too,” Sparks said.
Adding an additional ambulance would cost an estimated $1.5 million to account for the vehicle itself and the training for the 24-hour crew to staff it. That is greater than the operating budget of the city of Presidio, which would have to foot the bill as the county is unable to do so. With oil prices up, costs for fuel for longer transports in the meantime will test the budget limits.