On June 16, 1932 Clearfield Fire Company Number One Ambulance service was pressed into action. The first call was for an elderly woman with a fractured hip in Bailey Settlement. At that time Clearfield Hospital, then known as Memorial Hospital, was operating an ambulance to serve the community. It had broke down and was out of service when the call came in for Bailey Settlement. Ever since that time Clearfield Fire Company Number One has been providing emergency medical services for the Clearfield region.

Clearfield Fire Company Number One member J. Bruce Smith proposed the idea of Clearfield Fire Company Number One Ambulance Service in 1931. He developed his idea after witnessing an ambulance in action in nearby Lewistown. Mr. Smith presented his ideas to the general membership of the fire company to provide this service to the community. Always eager to assist the community, Clearfield Fire Company Number One adopted the idea and developed plans for the project. The country was in the midst of the Great Depression and the Fire Company was as strapped for money as everyone else at that time. Treasure Orville Shugarts reported at this same meeting that the Fire Company had $3.64 to its name. Realizing the opportunity to serve the Clearfield community and determined to establish an ambulance service, the Fire Company raised $1,200.00 for the project. This was a great accomplishment during this era. The Clearfield Trust Company loaned the Fire Company the remaining $1,295.00 needed to purchase the first ambulance, a Nash-Miller, from Clearfield Auto Supply Company.

From this point forward the service grew at unbelievable speed. In 1942 the service handled 221 calls covering 1,757 miles. By 1950 the call volume had more than doubled to 507 calls and 4,729 miles. 1970 brought about what many members had thought to be the maximum number of calls they would see: 956 calls covering 20,000 miles.

By 1990, the trip volume grew so large the service found itself operating four ambulances and receiving more calls than the all-volunteer staff could handle. Paid Emergency Medical Technicians were hired to staff the units. This same year the service was re-organized and the name was change to Clearfield E.M.S. Clearfield Fire Company Number One continues to own, operate, and maintain the service as Clearfield E.M.S. to this date.

In early 1993 Clearfield Fire Company Number One made a major commitment to improving patient care by making Clearfield E.M.S. an Advanced Life Support ambulance service. This advancement was made with the cooperation of Clearfield Hospital to further promote quality patient care. This advancement made Clearfield E.M.S. the provider of advanced life support Paramedic services to a majority of Clearfield County. Which essentially brings emergency room type care into the community. Clearfield E.M.S. Paramedics serve as the eyes, ears, and hands of the emergency room physician. Since the inception of Paramedic services we have saved or reduced the suffering for numerous citizens and visitors of the Clearfield Region.

In 2010 Clearfield Fire Company number 1 merged with the Clearfield Fire Department. Clearfield EMS Inc. Was formed into a community Ambulance Service. Clearfield EMS has persons from the Community that serve on the board.

The service continues to grow and improve upon patient care capabilities. In 2014, Clearfield E.M.S. was summoned for 3,950 calls and traveled over 100,000 miles. The Board of Directors of Clearfield E.M.S. has long been committed to providing the tools necessary to provide the most advanced pre-hospital care available today. We currently have an updated fleet of five advanced life support ambulances. All are equipped with LifePak 15 diagnostic cardiac monitors. These monitors provide us the tools to provide the highest level of care available to patients experiencing a problem related to their heart. The LifePak 15 monitor is capable of recording a 12 lead EKG that helps to diagnose a heart attack. All five units are also equipped with glucometers which check the amount of sugar in a patients blood, pulse oximiters that monitor the amount of oxygen in a person’s blood, equipment for establishing IVs, emergency life saving medications to administer to patients who require them, numerous devices for advanced airway control, bandaging, splinting, and patient moving devices to just name some of the equipment. All of which is up to date and of top quality.

Since 1931 Clearfield Fire Company Number One has had a commitment to provide quality emergency medical services to the residents and visitors of the Clearfield area. We continue to uphold this commitment by providing a quality not for profit emergency medical service organization that is owned and operated by local citizens and will continue to do so into and through the next millennium.