The Fourth of July often proves to be a challenging time for EMS departments across the Capital Region, and especially in Fulton County. But a new program is helping to fill the gap.

The Great Sacandaga Lake is a big draw for tourism in Fulton County.

“Our population typically swells on the weekends, especially during the summer,” Fulton County EMS Director Steve Santa Maria said.

It tests the county’s capabilities when it comes to emergency management. The Fourth of July holiday showed that.

“It was pretty routine," Santa Maria said. "We did have one incident over in Broadalbin, fireworks-related, where there were some injuries sustained.”

He said resources had already been stretched thin when the call came in for near the boat launch.

“The Greater Amsterdam Ambulance Corps was getting slammed. They cover two counties. They cover both Fulton and Montgomery County,” Santa Maria said.

But a new program called Municipal Certificate of Need enables Fulton County to have oversight of where its resources are and how many it has in the county at a given time, Santa Maria said.

And when they begin to run out, the county is able to look beyond its three contracted agencies that provide ambulance services and strategically shift resources where appropriate.

“It creates some depth for us,” Santa Maria said.

He said with this option in play, the county was able to respond to every call over the holiday weekend.

“Without the ability to do some of the things this weekend, it would have certainly been challenging for us,” he said.