Fire or Ambulance District? Which do you prefer?

Fire Based EMS or Ambulance District?

  • Fire

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Ambulance District

    Votes: 9 100.0%
  • Total voters
    9
CanadianBagel

CanadianBagel

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Hey, I'm a fairly new EMT-B soon to be medic student. I live in MO, and we have a good mix of ambulances run by county EMS agencies and some run by local fire districts. I was just wondering what some of your experiences and preferences were with these models of EMS systems.

Also, do firefighter medics carry any extra rescue gear with them on the ambo such as turnout gear, or extrication equipment that a county EMS agency (ambulance district) would not carry? Can they be more involved in rescues than regular EMS when on ambulance duty because of their fire training?

Any other differences between the EMS models would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks guys. Have a great day, and stay safe.
 
One thing you'll learn is, every department is different. If you have specific questions, you may want to ask those departments.

In most cases, fire department paramedics that are assigned to the ambulance will carry structural turn out gear in one of the compartments. Fire Department ambulances usually do not carry additional rescue gear, aside from what's required, because they know fire department equipment will be following shortly if any rescue or extrication is needed.

But, every situation is different. Some fire departments hire nonsuppression employees to work in EMS. Some third service EMS agencies will carry extrication and rescue gear on their trucks.
 
SplintedTheWrongLeg said:
Hey, I'm a fairly new EMT-B soon to be medic student. I live in MO, and we have a good mix of ambulances run by county EMS agencies and some run by local fire districts. I was just wondering what some of your experiences and preferences were with these models of EMS systems.
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I strongly prefer non-fire-based EMS, with fire as (BLS) first responders. Let fire fight what few fires there still are, and let EMS have the budget to deal with the bulk of calls. County EMS agencies can be a very good model, especially in rural or other less-dense areas where each municipality might not be able to or want to fund their own service, or if there are significant gains to scale versus having multiple town/city services (there, many times, can be).

What-Firefighters-Do.png


Caveat: On this board, on average, you'll see more support for non-fire based EMS models.
 
EpiEMS said:
I strongly prefer non-fire-based EMS, with fire as (BLS) first responders. Let fire fight what few fires there still are, and let EMS have the budget to deal with the bulk of calls. County EMS agencies can be a very good model, especially in rural or other less-dense areas where each municipality might not be able to or want to fund their own service, or if there are significant gains to scale versus having multiple town/city services (there, many times, can be).

What-Firefighters-Do.png


Caveat: On this board, on average, you'll see more support for non-fire based EMS models.
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I can totally see that. St. Louis County is majority fire based EMS and the suburbs and rural areas are Ambulance districts. What's kinda funny is that even where I live we have an Ambulance District, but most of our firefighters are ALS equipped now. They had so many Medics applying for BLS Fire jobs that they just decided to carry ALS equipment on their trucks. Fire jobs are RIDICULOUSLY hard to get out here.
 
SplintedTheWrongLeg said:
I can totally see that. St. Louis County is majority fire based EMS and the suburbs and rural areas are Ambulance districts. What's kinda funny is that even where I live we have an Ambulance District, but most of our firefighters are ALS equipped now. They had so many Medics applying for BLS Fire jobs that they just decided to carry ALS equipment on their trucks. Fire jobs are RIDICULOUSLY hard to get out here.
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That's why they started to carry ALS equipment?
 
SplintedTheWrongLeg said:
They had so many Medics applying for BLS Fire jobs that they just decided to carry ALS equipment on their trucks.
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I dunno, sounds like they really just wanted to justify their budget...
 
Sounds like somebody drank the "more paramedics means better care" kool-aid.
 
DEmedic said:
Sounds like somebody drank the "more paramedics means better care" kool-aid.
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Wait, you don't think that you need six paramedics to run a code? ;) (Insert meme-tastic picture showing "how your local fire department needs more money to hire more paramedics because more is always better")
 
DEmedic said:
Sounds like somebody drank the "more paramedics means better care" kool-aid.
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Well.. that is exactly what they said! I'm guessing you guys have seen this before, haha!
I know a lot of guys who are FF/P who have taken BLS jobs though. I have no idea why you would put yourself through medic school with how difficult it is and how much it cost (10k here) just to be doing EMT work.
 
SplintedTheWrongLeg said:
Well.. that is exactly what they said! I'm guessing you guys have seen this before, haha!
I know a lot of guys who are FF/P who have taken BLS jobs though. I have no idea why you would put yourself through medic school with how difficult it is and how much it cost (10k here) just to be doing EMT work.
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I think you said it best with "I have no idea"... Everybody has their own reasons for getting into a line of work; the best question to ask is "are they fulfilling their responsibilities?" of the job they currently hold.


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I work for a county third service and we are all issued turnouts for extrication accidents.

They're not going to save you in a house fire but they'll keep you for dying in the back of a car that goes up for the amount of time it takes to get yourself out or the FFs to pull you out.


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Handsome Robb said:
I work for a county third service and we are all issued turnouts for extrication accidents.

They're not going to save you in a house fire but they'll keep you for dying in the back of a car that goes up for the amount of time it takes to get yourself out or the FFs to pull you out.


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Sounds pretty awesome!
 
DesertMedic66 said:
How does being engulfed in fire while trying to extricate a trapped patient sound pretty awesome?
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I think it's pretty obvious I was referring to being issued turnouts and being able to save someone's life/ being apart of a rescue.
 
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