NORWICH – Tuesday morning, Superior Ambulance announced it would be significantly downsizing its Norwich operation due to the current business climate – a move that local fire officials say will jam-up municipal departments with a bulk of added calls.

“Superior Ambulance has been providing emergency medical service to Chenango County for the past 11 years and we remain committed to continuing this service at an adjusted level,” states a Jan. 24 press release from Superior. “Unfortunately, because of the current business climate in Chenango County, and specifically in the City of Norwich, we cannot continue to base three EMS vehicles at Norwich Ambulance headquarters.”

Effective Thursday, Superior will scale back from three emergency vehicles to one 24-hour, seven day-a-week ambulance to cover the county.

Departments in Bainbridge, New Berlin, McDonough, Pharsalia and Smyrna are several that do not offer their own EMS service, or depend heavily on Superior to be their primary provider, local officials said.

Chenango County Fire Coordinator Matt Beckwith said that EMS crews like those from Greene, the City of Norwich, Sherburne, South Otselic and Oxford will most likely have to pick up the slack in the wake of Superior’s cutback.