Five ambulance companies currently operate in Tompkins County. But come January 1, that number will drop to four. The Slaterville Volunteer Ambulance Service located in the Town of Caroline has decided to shut its doors. Time Warner Cable News' Philip O'Driscoll explains what forced their hand.

For the past few years, the Slaterville Volunteer Ambulance Company has been strongly pushing for more volunteer EMTs and ambulance drivers. They've been trying to avoid overworking the same few volunteers that answer every call placed in and around Caroline.

But at the town's most recent board meeting, they broke some bad news.

"So Slaterville ambulance informed us with a hand-delivered note from the board of directors that they would cease operation at the end of the day of December 31, 2015," Don Barber, the Caroline town supervisor, said.

The ambulance company's president says they did all they could to let the community know this could be coming.

"There were 14 different events, whether it's anything from newspaper articles to town community meetings, and we said up front if we don't get any more volunteers, we can't continue, and we did not basically get any more volunteers," Beth Harrington, president of the Slaterville Volunteer Ambulance Company, said.

Apart from Slaterville, Caroline has several municipalities, each served by its own fire company. But Slaterville's is the only ambulance company to serve both the entire town and southeastern Tompkins County.

"The current back-up systems for Slaterville Ambulance would become the primary system for Slaterville Ambulance," Barber said.

That means Caroline will receive mutual aid from other ambulance companies elsewhere in the county or neighboring Tioga County. Town officials are already addressing concerns over response times. Harrington says those concerns are valid, but she's confident in the other providers.

"A lot of ambulance calls are not life-and-death calls," Harrington said, "and you know 10 or 15 minutes are not going to make any difference as long as they know somebody's coming."

Still, leaders are anticipating a ripple effect from this closure across Tompkins County.