Turf battle over 911 calls - Bill would send jakes on jobs
Friday, September 6, 2013
By: Richard Weir
Boston firefighter union bosses — after getting shot down by the City Council last year on a bid to expand their duties — now are looking to Beacon Hill to override city policy and get sent on 911 calls for stabbings, shootings and overdoses, a role city watchdogs say is best left to Emergency Medical Services technicians.
“The EMS EMTs are the best trained to respond to those kinds of calls,” said Sam Tyler of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau. “I don’t think there is any need to change that at this point in time.”
State Rep. Nick Collins filed a bill on behalf of the city’s fire union this week to authorize new duties that he said could save lives. He said Boston’s 1,478 firefighters — 950 of whom have EMT certifications and already are authorized to respond to car crashes, cardiac arrests and other “Priority 1” 911 calls — are strategically located in city neighborhoods and respond to most calls in under four minutes, while the EMS average response time for “Priority 1” calls last year was 5.7 minutes.
- See more at: http://bostonherald.com/news_opinio...rf_battle_over_911_calls#sthash.zsk2SUFE.dpuf
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