California Cities Consider Paramedics on Fire Engines

Dec. 6--Marty Brown recalls a woman who died, with firefighters standing by, after eating barbecue sauce containing peanut oil.

The fire engine had arrived first and the ambulance was still on its way. But because Victorville firefighters are not equipped to give medication, the woman didn't stand a chance.

"Not having those skills or the certifications to administer life-saving drugs, they sat there and watched this lady die," said Brown, president of the Victorville Professional Firefighters Association. "Because when a person is in anaphylactic shock, their airway shuts down, even if you give them oxygen."

As EMTs, Victorville firefighters can only perform basic life support, which includes CPR and oxygen, but they cannot provide advanced life support -- and a crucial element of that is administering drugs.

American Medical Response, the ambulance and paramedic service serving Victorville, arrives in under 10 minutes roughly 94 percent of the time. However few and far between, there are those times when the firefighters are on scene for several minutes. And they want to be able to do more.

"We're on scene thinking, if this is my family member, who would I want to show up: a paramedic or an EMT that can't do anything?" said Fire Captain Dave Wheaton, who is spearheading a grass-roots effort to have paramedics on city fire engines. "When was the last time the employees stood up and said, we are not doing a goodenough job?"

Wheaton is getting ready to present a proposal to the City Council to equip fire engines with paramedics. Earlier this year, he got the green light from the firefighters association to go to the city with a formal plan, and then in August, Wheaton's committee made a presentation to the fire chief and the city manager.

City Manager Jon Roberts confirmed that a workshop before the City Council is in the pipeline, said city spokeswoman Yvonne Hester.

While on its face the initiative seems clear-cut, it is actually controversial -- mostly because it does not come cheap.

In one scenario, no new firefighters would be hired, yet the program would still cost about $500,000 a year after a five-year phase-in for equipment and training. In a second scenario, a fourth person would be hired for every fire engine, and that dollar amount is much higher, Wheaton said.

Fire Chief John Becker did not return calls for comment.

Wheaton said he wants to work with the private ambulance company, not against them.

"There are times that the ambulance gets there first, and that's OK because they have paramedics," he said. "If we get there first, our medic would go to work and we would complement each other."

An AMR spokesman said they supported whatever the city decides, adding that the company has a great relationship in cases of mutual aid with the Apple Valley Fire Protection District.

"Re g ardless of whether there's a paramedic on the fire engine or not, it doesn't affect the way we do our business," said Mike Romo, operations manager for the High Desert Division. "We're still going to be the transport provider and provide paramedics on every call."

One council member supports a paramedic program.

"I'm 100% behind it," said Bob Hunter. "I feel that while it is a cost, it is an extremely justifiable cost."

He added that fire engines would not have to go on all medical calls and that taxpayer money could be saved by sending paramedics in lighter utility-type trucks.

Councilman Terry Caldwell, a former San Jose firefighter, balked at the idea that the city should do something just because other cities do it.

"We shouldn't make a decision to be like somebody else -- we should make it after a thoughtful, deliberative process where the best minds in the field can look at the alternative, the costs ... and then make a decision," he said.

Thomas Schwab is city manager of Grand Terrace, population 13,000, which also does not have a fire-based paramedic service but is working on getting one.

"Most people, when they see that fire engine show up in an emergency, just assume that paramedic advance-life-support service is there, and in our case it isn't," he said. "So I just think we ought to bring ourselves up to what's basically a community standard in most communities, at least in California."

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