EMS Based Fire anyone?

[WolfmanHarris]

I'm sorry but I don't follow most of what you were attempting to say. What was your point exactly and how was it related to the original poster and his novel suggestion that rather than Fire taking on EMS, EMS could take on fire?

[spenac]

Another topic goes the way of the no real point arguements. :violent1:

[WolfmanHarris]

We all share in the fault here. We engaged in it in the first place.

Maybe I can start a trend:

I, Matthew Harris, do solemnly swear that I will give my best effort in ignoring pointless threads whose main purpose is inflammatory. If I feel the need to engage may I limit myself to posting a link directing the poster to one of the umpteenth other similar threads. Fail not in this pledge at my own peril. May I be kicked along with the dead horse.

[Chief1C]

Seeing that rescue and EMS seem to always need to work together.. Maybe EMS could take over rescue instead.. Like NYPD.

[sirduke]

Well then super hero, I work for the fire dept, we have 9 stations here just outside of Atlanta our community decided that they want theirselves takin care of in emergency situations. Brought this up at the commissioners meeting and had a patition that makes all fire personnel NPQ II certified ALS certified and require everyday training in ems and fire. They commissioners agreed and now all personnell are paramedics and we have met their requirments, so i believe this is what you are shooting for in your suggestion. Btw i believe its beneficial to the public that they came up with this and to us also. We are required by our department to rotate on the rescue every 3 months to keep our skills up on patient care.

Learning to spell would be the first requirement I would make. Please learn to either spell, or use the spell check, you embarrass the rest of the Georgians here.

[Dustdevil]

Btw i believe its beneficial to the public that they came up with this...

Oh yes, it is incredibly beneficial to the public that they pay twice as much for half the ambulances.

...and to us also.

In reality, that is what it is all about. It's not about benefiting the community. It's about justifying firemonkey jobs and salaries by giving them something to do, since otherwise they would do so little. EMS has become one big affirmative action jobs programme for blue collar labourers whose industry died years ago.

We are required by our department to rotate on the rescue every 3 months to keep our skills up on patient care.

If you were really needed, don't you think you would be getting enough actual practice that you wouldn't need refreshers just to remember the bare minimal basics of the job?

[firedoc5]

I've worked with a vollie BLS service. And with full time ALS private amb. serv. which within the city limits worked hand and hand with the ALS Fire/Rescue, and if in the county had a BLS Fire/Rescue respond also. I later got on with the City Fire/Rescue as a Paramedic and a FF II.

I know it sounds complicated but I'll try and simplify it. When I was with the private amb. service and we had a call in the city, both us and the FD responded with the FD Medic in charge and we assisted and did all the transport.

If the call was in the county we responded along with the "District" BLS Fire/Rescue. Our Medic was in charge with the District assisting. And we still did all the transport.

Eventually I moved up (some may not agree) but I got on the City FD full time as a FF II. For a couple of years before that I belonged to the city's version of a Fire/Rescue Voluntary. (I kept busy). Once I got on I only had to respond to calls in the city, which was far less than covering the whole county.

But all in all, I've had experience in who's who, and who's what. I've seen where Medics didn't want anything to do with the fire service, and firefighters who felt the same way with EMS other than Rescue. Eventually the City FD made it mandatory that all new recruits must become Paramedics. That reduced the number of applicants greatly.

So I really can't see an EMS Service heading a Fire based service. You have to take into consideration that Fire Depts. have been around and have been established for many more years than EMS services. If I remember right, Benjamin Franklin was the first Fire Chief in the US and established the first Fire Dept in or around 1787. So for help, the first thing that comes to mind is the Fire Dept., or at least (911).

Sorry, so long, didn't mean to get into a history lesson.

[under-dreaming]

My department is actually more like an EMS based fire department! This is the only fire department I've ever worked for, so I really don't know any different... All of the paid staff here are primarily EMS responders (it is just what we do most of the time). Personally, I spend most of my mind-effort on EMS related things, and that is what most of the guys here are like too. We also direct most (if not all) of our finances towards EMS related endeavors. It's a great system if you live in a small rural community like I do.

Our department is also volunteer based. And although many of our volunteers are certified emergency responders, many of them are not... so you can guess that their priorities are in the fire aspect of the system.

I guess if there is anything that I can offer to the discussion with my situation, it is that there is a way to co-exist in a very productive way. Once again though, this is a small community, so the needs are a little different.