Seb Wong

Asst Chief Daryl Louder of the Fairfax County FRD has been named the new Contra Costa (CA) Fire Chief. As I've mentioned before, Fairfax County Fire does all 911 EMS txps. I noticed that the CCFPD has engine medics and no txp services.

I'm wondering how the county's EMS txp is run. Is it all private? Third service? Some fire txp? If you're working there at a private agency, or know someone that is, I would get a plan B, a contingency plan in place, in case "you know what" happens. I'm sure that Chief Louder will strongly consider the prospect of absorbing EMS txp duties. He's our Asst Chief in charge of Business Services, after all.

Con Fire as it is known out here is the major fire protection department and ALS First Response for Contra Costa County. The next largest department in Contra Costa County is Richmond Fire Department. The EMS ambulance transport for Co Co County is contracted to AMR through a competitive bid through a RFP process. AMR recently won the bid a few years ago and will be the transport provider for a few more years until the next RFP. The only fire department in Co Co County that has a transport capability is the Moraga/Orinda Fire Protection District.

We read on this forum so much about how Fire is beginning to kill EMS.

We rant and rave about how it's not fair or it's just wrong that Fire is coming in and taking over EMS. Everyone knows my feelings regarding fire medics and plain medics. Dual role medics and single role medics. Fire based ems versus private single duty ems and I'm not going to entertain any more bashing of either on this thread. Do so and this thread will be locked if admin will allow it.

My question is this:

There are those on this forum who are Absolutely against fire based ems. They are absolutely against Fire running EMS.

My question is this. What are you currently doing to spread the word and helping people in the communities know which is a better fit for them? Are you just coming here and venting and bitching about this or are you actively doing something about this crisis?

I don't want any bashing of any type of service, I don't want the standard over done lines about how bad fire based ems is. I want real solutions and real ideas.

Hello Mr. Ruff,

Haven't popped up in the past few months since our last email exchange. I hope you are doing well and your new baby is very beautiful. Having worked for a private ambulance company contracted with providing emergency medical services to a city across from San Francisco, a Health Department third service, and finally a traditional fire department that absorbed the Health Department third service; I would have to say that the fire based EMS system in my home town has come through. I can see now that we have the resources that we need to deliver the care to our citizens at a level that they deserve to receive.

The reality is that we have a positive Chief that is supportive of the EMS mission; if that leadership changes, then I don't know what will happen. I don't think that there is any better service delivery model for one versus the other. The key point is that the best EMS provider for any community is the provider that the community wants to have. In many cities, townships, counties, cities or whatever geopolitical entity, it is also the one provider that the community can afford.

It is no secret why the IAFF and the IAFC are interested in doing EMS, but many excellent fire departments have been providing good EMS from the beginnings of our nascent profession. Many of the strong third services like Boston and City of Austin/Travis County have a good track record and demonstrated to their communities the value that they provide. They do it daily with high quality care and positive public relations to their respective constituencies.

I think how things might be different if instead of merging in 1997, the third service I worked for got 30 million dollars from the budget of the fire department and built a very robust EMS System. But the political reality would have never allowed such a shift of general funds. Perhaps when one day, the profession can get unified, the path might be more distinct.

Take care,

Seb

This is a video from an archival website. Mostly, they have old fire service footage, but there are a few with ambulances. This one, though, is kind of graphic. It's probably not work safe, though it's all medical footage. May not be appropriate for children.. It's a training film for California Highway Patrol from 1966, titled, Sudden Birth.

CHP 1966 - Sudden Birth

Also to mention, the big push for high visibility markings for emergency vehicles now... and look at the back of their unit Pre-EMS!

This was actually the Berkeley Police Department and the University of California in cooperation with Alta Bates Hospital who produced this film. BPD provided the emergency ambulance ambulance service for the City of Berkeley until the late 1970's when the Berkeley Fire Department took over the function. Dr. Heinrich Beernink who plays the fledgling BPD officer still maintains an office in OB/GYN practice.

Ruff - that was a rather gracious response that Seb Wong provided to you. All along I've maintained the same thought - I feel sorry for him as he is the one that has to deal with the public's image, not only of EMS, but of his particular department. That puts him in a tough spot, especially since they are a municipal department as he states, they don't have the luxury of saying no. Their funding depends upon keeping the mayor happy. As much as some of us may not like fire based depts, ems I think it's time to seriously sit down and give this guy credit for at least trying. I know his job can't possibly be easy. Best of luck to him on cleaning up the mess this show may create and my sympathies certainly.

Dear Fireflymedic,

Thank you for the understanding. If you are ever in San Francisco, please allow me to show you our department's hospitality.

Seb Wong