Friday brought new concerns about plans to move the St. Joseph Regional Medical Center to Mishawaka in December.

The concerns come from South Bend Fire Chief Howard Buchanan.

He says South Bend city ambulances made about 3,500 trips to St. Joe last year.

"My biggest concern is there could be a time that all of our medics could be in Mishawaka and not in the city," said Buchanan.

Trips to a different city could mean longer response times.

"Tthat's a big problem for me to be able to have that happen. So we have to work something out," said Buchanan.

One South Bend resident said she when she called 911 when her husband had an allergic reaction. The response time was quick and said she is not worried about the ambulances because Memorial Hospital is still in South Bend.

"There's a lot of hospitals around here, maybe we'll take the route for memorial because we live close to memorial, but Saint Joe, the Mishawaka area is also close," said Connie Besario.

The chief has already starting discussing the situation with hospital officials.

They're talking about possible ways to shorten the amount of time the ambulances would have to stay on the hospital grounds.

"Right now they're in the city and sometimes all our medics are at st joe hospital and sometimes they're all at Memorial and it's hard to say, and now with the move, the same situation could occur," said Buchanan.