UTICA (AP) -- Officials in Utica say they're appealing a decision by the state Department of Health that requires the city's fire department to suspend its ambulance service later this week.
Utica Mayor David Roefaro tells local media that city officials only learned Monday that the agency's Bureau of Emergency Medical Services had ordered firefighters to stop responding to emergency medical calls with an ambulance and transporting patients to a hospital.
The suspension order takes effect Friday.
WKTV-TV reports that the head of the bureau told Roefaro in a letter that the city doesn't have the authority to operate an ambulance service. The letter was in response to an ongoing legal dispute over the service.
A privately-owned ambulance company would be the city's only ambulance service provider if the city's service is shut down.
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