Billing Decision Expected Today for Valley Village Crash Families

UPDATE 11:30 p.m.--The decision won't be made until at least Tuesday, City News Service reports.

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City officials are expected to announce Monday if they will waive charges for providing ambulance transport to victims of in Valley Village, including two women electrocuted when they tried to assist the driver of a disabled SUV.

"The city Fire Department administration is going to address that issue publicly tomorrow,'' department spokesman Brian Humphrey told City News Service Sunday.

He declined to discuss the details of the announcement or say whether the fee adjustment would apply to all seven people transported to the hospital after Wednesday night's accident or only the two women who died.

Stacey Lee Schreiber, 39, of Valley Village, and Irma Zamora, 40, of Burbank, were killed by 4,800 volts when they rushed to help Arman Samsonian, 19, of Glendale, after his vehicle sheared a fire hydrant and toppled a light pole in the 12000 block of Magnolia Boulevard, creating a pool of electrified water into which they stepped.

Neither drugs nor alcohol appeared to have been factors in the crash, but authorities said Samsonian, now at the center of a reckless driving investigation, may have been racing, although his sister has denied it.

Zamora had been a passenger in a vehicle being driven by her husband, police said, and Schreiber rushed out from a nearby apartment.

In the normal course of events, the people who were transported or their families would be sent bills from the city for emergency services, such as
hospital transport and treatment by paramedics, Humphrey said Friday.

The city's municipal code does not allow automatically exempting good Samaritans or the victims of violent crime, he said.

"We are mandated by the City Council and the mayor to bill citizens for the services rendered by paramedics, and that's what we do,'' he said, noting
that the city began charging for paramedic services sometime in the 1970s.

Residents have some recourse, he said. An individual who is indigent or earns little can ask for a  waiver, and victims can seek reimbursement from whoever caused an accident or that motorist's insurance carrier.

In August 2010, the "Advanced Life Support Services Fee'' was raised
from $1,004 to $1,373 per patient and "Basic Life Support Fee'' from $712 to
$974 per patient. The cost of transport by city ambulance was kept the same:
$15.75 per mile.