PHILIPSBURG, Mont. — One day in July, Robert Littlejohn received a page from the county Sheriff’s Office about a disoriented senior citizen. A wildland firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service in Montana and an EMT with the Philipsburg volunteer fire department, Littlejohn waited for Granite County’s private ground ambulance company, Eagle Ambulance Service, to respond.
But Eagle had flown the coop.
Philipsburg is one of many rural areas struggling to sustain an ambulance service amid low call volume, increasing rural hospital closures and fallout from the pandemic.
