Matt Coyne, and Michael D'Onofrio

The Journal News

The ambulance service for more than 200,000 Lower Hudson Valley residents abruptly shut down Wednesday, sending several Westchester cities scrambling for a replacement.

TransCare — which had served White Plains, Mount Vernon and New Rochelle — notified employees it would cease operations via email Wednesday afternoon.

The TransCare management team cited financial difficulties. It said the company was able to spin off some services, specifically paratransit services in New York City and ambulance services in Dutchess County and Pittsburgh.

"The remaining operations (including those in Westchester) are being forced into liquidation under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code," the email read. "The operations associated with these businesses will discontinue starting today and responsibility for their remaining assets will be transferred to the custody of a court-appointed trustee."

White Plains Public Safety Commissioner David Chong said the city was notified yesterday that Transcare was pulling out. He said Empress EMS will step in to provide service, a plan the city came up with when it became unclear if TransCare would stay in business.

"There will be the exact same amount of ambulances on the street with the exact same amount of EMS supervisors," said Chong Wednesday afternoon.

New Rochelle City Manager Charles Strome III said the city terminated its contract with TransCare on Jan. 7 after what he took as multiple warning signs of the ambulance service's solvency. New Rochelle signed a 90-day emergency contract with Empress EMS until a long-term provider can be found.

“We had seen signs of this coming late last year, early this year," Strome said. "I am happy that we pulled the trigger to change companies when we did.”

Strome said New Rochelle had a contract with TransCare for more than a decade, and there were never any issues about the services provided. But the city decided to terminate its contract with TransCare after the company had failed to pay its employees twice this past summer and had potential insurance lapses.

“I wasn’t prepared to put the city at risk," Strome said.

Transcare chalked up its payroll problems to timing issues with its lender.

Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Thomas said the city also signed a 90-day, emergency contract with Empress EMS to provide ambulance services.

“It’s been a known, ongoing concern that TransCare was in bad shape, and today they were acknowledging their business is done," Thomas said. “We won’t be held hostage by a private operator,” Thomas added, saying there will be a “seamless transition of services."

Thomas said his administration was assessing the potential for the Mount Vernon fire department to provide ambulance services.

“Mount Vernon needs to invest in itself and provide basic ambulance services," he said.

Its email to employees on Wednesday cited "a decision by our senior lender to cease providing additional funding" to many segments of its ambulance operations as the reason for the bankruptcy.

"For those at work currently or scheduled to work today, please continue your usual good service until such time as you hear from the court appointed Trustee. We expect the appointed trustee to be able to provide you with further direction and answers to your questions in the days ahead," it said.

"Please know that we have worked hard for months now to restructure the entire business. Unfortunately, today's events made that impossible, and we are deeply sorry for the job losses and any service interruptions for the communities we have served."

Calls to TransCare's corporate number as listed on its website went unanswered.

Twitter: @coynereports