The province’s largest union is sounding the alarm after the number of ambulances available to the public reached a terrifying low yesterday. Six of the 13 were off the road in the metro region. It’s a serious concern, according to NAPE President Jerry Earle.

On Monday, nearly half of the ambulances that should have been be readily available were not. The reason was not lack of staff, but rather lack of operational vehicles. The lack of public knowledge is what’s concerning, says Earle. It’s not unusual for one or two ambulances to be unavailable, but when there is a crisis situation similar to yesterday’s, Earle believes there should be some form of system in place to alert the public.

He hopes for a more proactive approach in the future for both ambulance maintenance and alerting those who will be effected during a shortage. NTV’s Marykate O’Neill is covering the story and will have more on the NTV Evening Newshour.