Knoxville, TN (WOKI) For the first time in almost 50 years, Rural Metro Fire will begin charging its non-subscribers for emergency medical services.

The department, making that announcement Monday before Knox County commissioners, says it will start charging non-subscribers a flat fee of $600 per call beginning sometime after April 15.

Officials shared that first responder medical missions, such as automobile wrecks, account for about 60% of all of Rural Metro’s calls for service and that fee-for-service charges can no longer financially sustain the company’s local operations.

Though it charges non-subscribers for responding to fires on a per-call basis,  Rural Metro has not charged non-subscribers for first responder medical services since it started Knox County operations in 1977.

Rural Metro says residential subscriptions for the department’s services run an average of $425 a year and vary based on the size of the home.