Following Austin’s annexation of the Lost Creek subdivision on December 15, 2015, the Westlake Fire Department will no longer respond to lower priority (Priority 4 and 5 EMS) Lost Creek calls. Instead, a City of Austin EMS Ambulance will respond. The lower priority, no-lights, no-siren calls include responses for “minor lacerations, falls under 10 feet with minor injury, lift assists, low-priority abdominal pain, medical alarm activations with no other details and other relatively minor injuries and sickness,” according to the Austin American-Statesman. In addition, the Westlake Fire Department will no longer respond to alarm activations, odor investigations, or public assists in Lost Creek, and these calls instead will be handled by the Austin Fire Department.
The Westlake Fire Department will continue to respond to calls from the Computer Aided Dispatch system, which is in collaboration with six other fire departments to provide “automatic aid” from the closest fire engine to the scene, regardless of the jurisdiction. For more information on the changes, please read the article cited above.