CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Kleberg County Judge Rudy Madrid is addressing the need for more emergency services funding.
This comes as a semi-truck crashed into a Greyhound bus early Wednesday morning in Rivera, causing multiple counties to provide ambulances to transport injured passengers to three different hospitals.
Madrid told 3NEWS that he plans to meet with the county judges in Jim Wells and Brooks counties to reach out to the state about public safety needs.
At least eight ambulances responded to the accident--two from Kleberg County and the rest from other county and city agencies.
However, the rising cost of ambulance services is making responding to large accidents more difficult than before.
Assistant Kleberg County Fire Chief Ryan Webb said that both county fire stations responded to the accident involving a bus with at least 30 passengers. It happened at the intersection of U.S. Highway 77 and State Highway 285, when the truck driver didn't stop traveling south of Highway 77.
"It was a chaotic scene, but we get there, and we were able to calm it down and find out what's going on and get everybody there that needed to be treated," he said.
DPS Sgt. Guadalupe Casarez said that his department discovered that the truck driver disregarded a red traffic control signal and was issued a citation.
The investigation determined the crash happened just before 1 a.m. on Wednesday. Several passengers were transported to hospitals in Kingsville, Alice and Corpus Christi with minor injuries. No one was killed. Madrid said nearby counties working together is crucial during those emergencies.
"Last night, they, they came to our rescue and, you know, we can't be more thankful," he said. "But I do think that the, that the state needs to listen to us in our time of need and I think we need to make sure that the Coastal Bend is protected—especially when it comes to ambulance service."
Madrid said the price of ambulance services almost tripled in the last three years. Since EMS services are a necessity, he plans to reach out to state legislators to voice concerns about rising costs to keep everyone in his county safe.
"It's made it almost impossible for counties to, to you know, to have adequate coverage when they're asking for, you know, $1.5 million a year to cover Kleberg County. I mean, come on man, be fair to my taxpayers. I'm going to fight for them any day of the week," he said.
Ambulances from fire departments in Kingsville, Alice, Premont, Willacy and others responded to the accident. The Corpus Christi Fire Department sent their AMBUS to transport large groups of patients. Kleberg County Sheriff's Office, Kingsville Police Department, DPS and U.S. Border Patrol also responded. Webb said it was one of the largest accidents he's responded to in 22 years, but didn't let that affect him.
"You try not to, but it's just, take it a piece at a time and just, you run everything the same way we do every scene, and you start doing that, it's consistent and it makes the flow a lot easier," he said.
Madrid said they are building a regional emergency operation center in Kleberg County to help with ambulance and fire services.
The intersection has been cleared and reopened for normal travel.