Today, Twin Lakes voters will decide whether or not to fund full-time emergency medical workers for faster response times, as current volunteers respond to calls from home.The Twin Lakes Fire and Rescue Department hope to receive the funding that they need to hire full-time EMS staff. Volunteers respond to over 1,200 calls a year. They believe that round-the-clock coverage is the key to a safer community.If theres a call and there no staff, theyre coming from home ten minutes, then driving from the station to wherever that emergency is," Twin Lakes Fire Chief Rod Redlin said. "If your loved one is having a medical emergency, you want an ambulance on the scene as soon as possible. Redlin has served the Twin Lakes community for over 30 years and after seeing an increase in emergency calls, he said it's time for a change.If you have a medical emergency and we're not in the station because we dont have the staff for it, you could be 40-45 minutes from being at a hospital, so thats unacceptable and we want to change that, Redlin said.With this new funding, they hope to lower the response time by eight minutes.If the personnel are coming from their home, it may take 6 to 10 minutes...where every minute counts with emergencies," village administrator Laura Resslyn said. Resslyn said voting yes will result in a safer communityThe important part to know is that the Twin Lakes Fire and Rescue Department has done all that they can, for all these years and the volunteers keep falling off," Resslyn said. "They wouldnt be asking us for this unless they truly saw the need to add the full-time staff members.Its about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for TMJ4 on your device.Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.Report a typo or error // Submit a news tip