Ariola asks when fire engines are dispatched to medical calls

Okay, and the speaker noted that there was an engine company right next door to the school.

So in what's...

Circumstances, are engine companies dispatched to a medical emergency?

So our engine companies, the firefighters there are certified first responders with defibrillation capability.

They are assigned in segment one, two, and three calls.

All of our medical calls, when they hit the emergency medical dispatcher, get triaged and get a segment.

So if it's a segment one, two, or three, which we see as the life-threatening calls, that CFR engine, if available, will be assigned.

In the case that the speaker was talking about, that was a segment four or five, and the CFR engine is not, which cannot transport, is not assigned to those.

Has the FDMY ever explored the utility of having certain members of fire companies undergo training as EMTs and paramedics, those who did not come into the fire department through that pipeline?

I guess in years past, they were things they...

The possibility was looked at.

We've had thousands of our members over the last 25 or 30 years that came from EMS that were either EMTs or paramedics.

But the way we look at it now is that the EMTs and paramedics are on the ambulances.

Which is not optimal, right?

We want ambulances to go to ambulance calls.

So what is the process of getting an engine company back in service after responding to a medical call?

And does the company have to wait until an ambulance arrives?

Yes, once that CFR engine makes patient contact, they are required to wait for an ambulance.

And we've had times where that engine, because it winds up being a lower acuity call, could wait an hour or two with the patient waiting for an ambulance.

The engine is not able to transport, and they are not able to leave the patient.

They cannot abandon that patient, regardless of the level of illness or injury.

While the engine company is at the scene of a medical call.

That fire call would be handled by other fire companies.

That fire company cannot leave.

So what we're seeing is when a fire engine has to respond, there's gaps for possible fires that are happening in their district, in the area that they cover, their catchment area.

Then they have to call in another fire engine company, and that leaves another gap.

So you see what's happening here.

It's just it's...

It puts more people in danger and it creates more of a public safety issue.

I just want to mention also we've been joined by Council Members Gail Brewer and Lincoln Ressler.

I just have a couple more questions and then I will defer to Chair Narcisse.