Just out of curiosity, when did they start sending out an engine company along with the ambulance? and why? I realize this now seems to be standard practice nationwide but I remember when it used to be just the ambulance.
It started about 30 years ago in Washington DC, It has been the same in many other cities.
The idea was to cut down on response time.
Since Ambulances were over burdened and sometimes unavailable for short periods of time it was decided that sending out an Engone Company with First Responders on it would place people with some medical knowledge on the scene in a few short minutes.At that time Fire Apparatus was supplied with oxygen equipment and everyone had to get EMT cards.
At that time DC had about 15 Ambulances and they were busy just about constantly. Mostly with runs that were a waste of service’s. It was originally limited to Shortness of Breath and Heart attacks, as time went on it became abused more and more.
Today DC has about 35 Ambulances some Paramedic units, and some Paramedic Engine Companies and they are still over whelmed with requests for Ambulances. It has just gotten worse over the years.
Putting Fire Apparatus that costs $400,000 dollars on the street 10 or 15 times a day for BS Ambulance calls wears out the equipment at a fantastically quick rate.
Quick response time is the major reason for Fire Apparatus responses to Medical calls. Of course with women now riding the Ambulances and Fire Apparatus the need for manpower lifting and loading patients into the Ambulance is a secondary reason. Many times patients are too heavy for two Ambulance personnel to get loaded. If CPR is in progress at the time the extra personnel is essential.
In SE PA, we no longer call the department with fire trucks the “Fire Dept.” We call them the “Wreck Dept.” the “Responding Dept.” There was a homicide in our town, about 25 miles from Allentown, and one cop showed up, one ambulance and four fire trucks?