Ambulance services in Champaign and Urbana have frequently failed to meet response time standards over the past year, a review of ambulance call data found.

In Champaign, nearly one-third of ambulances responding to 911 medical emergency calls failed to meet the standard of arriving at the scene within eight minutes. 

In Urbana, nearly half failed to meet the same standard.

The standard is codified in city ordinances and is also a national standard, which requires ambulance companies to respond within eight or 12 minutes at least 90% of the time based on the type of emergency.

Two ambulance companies, Arrow Ambulance, owned by Carle Health, and Advanced Medical Transport, served Champaign in 2025 and had similar response time records. Arrow became the sole provider for Urbana in July 2024 and for Champaign in November 2025. 

Although city ordinances allow fire departments to assess fines against ambulance companies, both departments said they have no record of doing so.

Both fire chiefs said response times are affected by issues like weather, staffing issues, high demand periods for medical emergencies and miscommunication from or with dispatchers.

Carle spokesperson Laura Nootbaar said Arrow consistently has met response time standards the cities and fire departments require of ambulances.

“In accordance with city contracts, response time data is reported to fire department leadership following a call that involves Arrow Ambulance,” Communications Partner Nootbaar said in an email. 

She said the city is currently reviewing data provided by Arrow and METCAD, and the most accurate data related to response times “will be available soon.”

“We are confident in our professional partnership with the City of Champaign and remain focused on supporting the safety and care of residents,” she said. “We will continue to bring high-quality, emergent care to the region and work alongside partners throughout Champaign to improve the health of those we serve.”

The 2025 response time data was released by the Champaign County dispatcher METCAD in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from CU-CitizenAccess.org.

The data detailed each call, including the city the ambulance was sent to, what company sent it, how long it took to arrive and the call type, which signals the level of urgency for emergency medical services. The data began on Jan. 7, 2025 due to a change in dispatch records and went through Dec. 31, 2025.

In Champaign, 7,275 calls required a response time within eight minutes, which did not include 984 calls recorded as “Did Not Arrive.” Of the calls reviewed, 2,372, or 32.6%, had an arrival time greater than eight minutes. Some responses were recorded as taking longer than an hour.

Response times in the City of Urbana showed half of the 3,732 ambulance calls for medical emergencies failed to meet the same eight-minute standard within the last year. After excluding 423 calls recorded as “Did Not Arrive,” 1,876 calls, or 50.27%, exceeded eight minutes.

Calls recorded as “Did Not Arrive,” according to METCAD Supervisor Jennifer Frost, mean the responding unit did not have an arrival time. The designation might result when the caller changes their mind on wanting an ambulance, Frost said in an email.

When a person calls 911, the call is answered by a METCAD telecommunicator who follows a specific line of questioning in order to assess the situation and reach a conclusion on the appropriate priority level. Based on the information collected, a dispatcher will determine how soon first responders should respond. Sometimes, this may involve pulling first responders from a lower priority call.

The fire departments of both cities are supposed to conduct a monthly evaluation of response times, according to the cities’ municipal codes.

But as of mid-May, the Champaign Fire Department had not yet determined the validity of April’s call data but Funk said “there is still some further growth needed” to meet the language in the municipal code.

Indeed, a CU-CitizenAccess review of April 2026 data shared by Funk found about 37% of calls failed to meet the eight-minute standard.

Funk attributed the poor response times in part to the department having to adapt quickly after AMT ended service in the city in November 2025. The fire department only had three months to prepare for a single service provider.

“I knew it was going to be a problem,” Funk said. “I know they’ve done pretty well, considering nobody saw that coming and it just dropped on us.”

The Champaign City Council granted sole provider status to Arrow on Nov. 15, 2025.

Carle adjusting to being cities’ sole provider

Carle spokesperson Nootbaar said the company’s commitment to serving the city under the franchise agreement and the steps it’s taking “to ensure all needs are met to protect the safety and wellbeing of those in crisis.” 

In a Jan. 28, 2026 email, Carle Arrow Ambulance Director Justin Stalter wrote to Funk that METCAD’s reports on ambulance response times were “30 to 60 seconds behind fire at minimum” when compared with Arrow’s data. Stalter’s email to Funk was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. 

“I was also able to show [Fire Lieutenant Andrew Schneman] the METCAD reports discrepancies on ambulance arrival times, as we don’t have a button to push and are at the mercy of dispatcher hearing and marking it,” Stalter said. “I look forward to working with your team on accurate data reporting, as we can’t use METCAD’s data stand alone currently.”

Nootbaar said METCAD’s reports only include data from dispatches responding to 911 calls and is “not a complete reflection of the services Arrow provides” in the two cities.

“When the area was faced with a sudden adjustment in paramedic transport support for the market, Arrow Ambulance didn’t hesitate to address the need and has been implementing operational adjustments over the past several months to ensure dependable patient care for all,” she said in a May 22 email.

AMT President Andrew Rand said in an email the company provided “very reliable” response time service to the city but did not answer specific questions about response time data. AMT’s response times were similar to Arrow’s.

In Champaign, excluding calls where ambulances did not arrive, there were 2,372 calls that failed to meet the eight-minute standard. Of those calls:

• AMT, from January through November, did not meet the standard for 937 calls, about 32% of the 2,943 total calls it responded to.
• Arrow, in 2025, did not meet the standard for 1,435 calls, about 33% of the 4,332 total calls it responded to.

In Urbana, excluding calls where ambulances did not arrive, there were 1,876 calls that failed to meet the eight-minute standard in 2025. 

Arrow, which has had a sole provider agreement with Urbana since summer 2024, responded to nearly all of the calls. It did not meet the standard on 1,872 calls, about 50% of the 3,726 total calls it responded to.

AMT only responded to six advanced life support ambulance calls in 2025. Four did not meet the standard.

Response times for the first quarter of 2026 showed Arrow’s compliance rate in both cities was slightly higher compared to 2025, but still fell short of the standard.

Call types determine standards

Standards depend on the call type, which are accompanied by a brief description in METCAD’s data, such as stroke or fall. The classifications Bravo, Charlie, Delta and Echo, each shortened to the first letter in dispatch data, mean a call requires advanced life support. Alpha and Omega typically identify calls requiring basic life support and all other calls.

In Chapter 5.5 of Champaign’s code and Chapter 3.5 of Urbana’s code, the standard says ambulances must respond to 90% of calls categorized as class B, C, D or E during the calendar month within eight minutes. 

Similarly, 90% of calls categorized as class A or O during the calendar month must be responded to within 12 minutes. 

The standard is based on the national standard established by the National Fire Protection Association in standard NFPA 1710.

If the time limit for calls requiring advanced life support were extended from eight minutes to ten minutes, a review of data shows the ambulance companies in both Champaign and Urbana still would not meet the 90% standard outlined in the cities’ codes.

• In Champaign, excluding calls where ambulances did not arrive, ambulance companies failed to meet the 10-minute standard about 13% of the time, with 996 out of 7,275 calls falling short.
• In Urbana, excluding calls where ambulances did not arrive, ambulance companies failed to meet the 10-minute standard about 21% of the time, with 798 out of 3,732 calls falling short.

Champaign Deputy Fire Marshal Jeremy Mitchell said he suspects the data may indicate both ambulance companies had difficulties with staffing.

“They were trying to do more with less, which sometimes would mean if you had a call in Boulder Ridge or Sawgrass in Champaign, maybe they would be coming from Carle — a long drive even running with lights and sirens to northwest Champaign,” Mitchell said.

Champaign chief Funk also cited training issues with paramedics that have resulted in a few response times being reported incorrectly. Some paramedics will forget to make a call informing dispatchers they are at the scene of the emergency, which can appear as a delay in the data, he said.

Behavioral and mental health calls present similar challenges. Emergency medical services can arrive on a scene but be forced to wait until police have secured the scene to provide medical attention.

Urbana chief Doggett said response times can be extended during periods where many medical calls are going on simultaneously. 

“Other times it might be we’re out of ambulances in the county or in the city and now we’re pulling from a different area,” Doggett said. “Somebody’s coming from Savoy or west Champaign or Rantoul or wherever because we have five different medicals going on at the same time.”

Other factors such as harsh weather conditions and the growing size and spread of the city have also had an impact on emergency response times.

“For example, 20 years ago when I first started with the city, it basically stopped at Duncan road,” Mitchell said. “Now it goes about two miles past that, quite a bit farther south, [where] we’re bumping up against Savoy.”

Over the years, there has been an increase in the number of lower priority calls that require basic life support. This may play a role in Arrow’s noncompliance, according to Funk.

“I think over time people’s ability or understanding of how to administer self-care is eroding a little bit,” Funk said. “So we get ambulance calls for toothaches and headaches and [jammed toes] or something.”

Arrow is now sole provider in both cities

The City of Champaign made a change from a licensing model with both Arrow Ambulance and Advanced Medical Transport (AMT) to a five-year exclusive franchise agreement with Arrow on Nov. 15, 2025.

The decision came after the city received a letter on Aug. 13, 2025 from AMT informing Champaign officials the company would terminate services by Nov. 15, the same date of new agreement with Arrow. 

“With Urbana choosing Arrow as a sole provider, the economic model for AMT required revenue that only Champaign could provide through a sole provider agreement,” AMT President Andrew Rand said in an email. “Champaign advised that they were not interested in a sole provider agreement at the time we proposed one.”

On Sept. 30, 2025, the Champaign Fire Department solicited proposals for an exclusive franchise agreement. Only two providers responded, Carle Arrow Ambulance and Myndhack LLC based in Arizona.

“(Myndhack) said they could come here (and that) they’d need nine months to kind of get positioned here and try to do hiring and training,” Funk said. “And that was outside of our time frame.”

Myndhack also requested to bill the city for each call rather than generate its own earnings like a nonprofit such as Arrow, Funk said.

In response to the fire department’s request for qualifications, Carle Arrow Ambulance submitted a proposal that cited its “unparalleled clinical expertise, advanced technology, and highly trained personnel to bear in delivering exceptional emergency medical services for communities.”

This proposal was accompanied by a disclosure affidavit that provided financial information to the city and a good faith effort form that detailed its compliance with the city’s Equity and Engagement Department. 

After an evaluation, staff recommended Arrow as the most prepared to serve the city based on references, municipal code compliance, integration and training. It scored 95% in comparison to Myndhack, which scored 42.5%.

The resolution authorizing the city manager to enter the franchise agreement said Arrow has served Champaign since 1963 and “has a history of positive integration” with the Champaign Fire Department.

“The new agreement provides a lot more structure to the emergency response, but also capacity,” deputy marshal Mitchell said. “We have a better guarantee of effective advanced life support response within the city.”

The agreement details a requirement for four available advanced life support ambulances in the city “365 days a year, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.” 

According to Carle Health’s 2024 IRS Form 990 filing, Arrow Ambulance LLC is a nonprofit organization directly controlled by Carle Health Care Incorporated. The company owns a total of 35 ambulances, including one specifically designated for critical care patients. Arrow provides more than 34,000 transports per year across approximately 2,500 square miles. 

Arrow provides emergency medical assistance and transportation in the Champaign-Urbana area and many outlying communities in Champaign County. Arrow also provides services in Vermilion, Douglas and Richland counties and has multiple exclusive service agreements with these counties and service areas, which means Arrow operates as a regional EMS provider.

Fire officials and Carle say new efforts being made

Arrow and city fire officials said Carle has implemented multiple new efforts in order to strengthen its response times in the cities, including dispatch strategies, ongoing hiring of EMTs and paramedics, new stations for ambulances and AI technology. 

The ambulance service has begun dispatching basic life support ambulances to handle lower-acuity calls that may have previously been preventing units from reaching others. 

Arrow recently purchased a station in southwest Champaign, with renovations set to begin soon.

“In 2018, Carle Arrow Ambulance built a two-ambulance station in west Champaign due to increased call volumes and city growth in that area,” Carle’s Nootbaar said. “Arrow is currently awaiting permits to start renovations on a newly purchased station in Southwest Champaign to reduce response times in that area of the city.”

Arrow is also integrating a new AI-based dispatch system to factor in real-time traffic patterns and road closures when managing calls. 

“This system will recommend the closest ambulance based on real-time data rather than mileage alone,” she said.

Urbana chief Doggett said Arrow’s new technology will help the department more closely analyze response time compliance. 

“As we work with them, the plan is to provide the information that we need such as the eight-minute compliance, any time that it goes past that, how many times it goes past that, and working with them to make sure that the compliance fits within the specific ordinance, or the agreement, rather,” he said.

Arrow is also actively seeking a new property in Urbana to expand its reach to harder-to-reach parts of the city like southeast Urbana, Doggett said.

“That’s probably one of the more prevalent areas that you’ll see a higher frequency of eight minutes or greater, just because it’s longer, it’s basically the farthest point from where they’re coming from to where they would potentially have to go,” he said. “All of that area in southeast Urbana, that would be the beneficial area where they could get to the location faster and by moving into the city they would be able to do that.”

Funk said he is confident that when he reviews the data for April it will show increased compliance because of the changes and improvements at Arrow.

“That’s why we have the language in the municipal code to guide what that process is and the levers that I can pull to influence their urgency to get to that,” Funk said. “Because I have residents that deserve that service, right?”