People in the village of Riverton, Man., are concerned they could lose most of their ambulance drivers if the province doesn't change its mind on new training requirements.

Riverton, 125 kilometres north of the province's capital on the shore of Lake Winnipeg, has an all-volunteer force of ambulance drivers and emergency medical technicians.

By Dec. 31, the province is requiring all ambulance drivers — paid or volunteer — to be trained as EMTs.

Gordon Klym, a councillor in the Rural Municipality of Bifrost, where Riverton is located, said five of the community's seven drivers are not taking the course.

"It's an extensive course.  It's between 150, 160 hours. It is quite difficult," he told CBC News on Tuesday.

"They feel that, well, they volunteered for a long time and they don't believe they will get a lot of information from it, really, that's really going to help them with the driving part of the ambulance [duties]."

It's more important for the drivers to have strong skills behind the wheel and on rural roads than to have training doing things they don't normally do, such as treating patients, Klym said.

"In speaking with our emergency medics, EMTs, they've informed me that all the ambulance drivers really do is help them load the patient and then get them to the nearest health facility," he said.

"You've got to keep in mind that a round trip over here could be up to 3½ hours. A trained driver is vital."

Klym expects to meet with provincial officials in the new year to discuss the situation.