Fire and ambulance service
Published August 22, 2008
Fire and ambulance service
Strathcona residents are proud and rightly so of their excellent emergency services. Cross trained, integrated fire and ambulance services are not only the most expedient method of dealing with emergencies but are a benefit financially to residents.
When responding to a fire, personnel can immediately switch from rescuing individuals from burning buildings to providing medical services, there is no need to transfer the patient to a second crew. The majority of our emergency response calls in 2007 were ambulance calls. Our staff are not just waiting for fire calls but those same members are also responding to the ambulance calls. We are not having to staff a fire department and also a second ambulance department.
The announcement by the Province to take over the ambulance service in Alberta has some benefit, it is always great to local residents to have the province pick up the costs, however municipalities with integrated services in the Province, 16 in total, must also be concerned with the availability of personnel to man fire equipment if they are deployed on an ambulance call in another municipality.
We are awaiting the details, but areas of concern would be the redeployment, dispatch and escalating costs through the length of the contract. As a municipality, we are required to provide fire protection for our residents even before providing local ambulance service or ambulance service to another municipality, and we must base our decision on that priority. If the service needs to be split, our current personnel will then have to make a decision as to whether they would prefer to remain as firefighters or serve as paramedics.
The transition to provincial control of ambulance services may be a windfall for municipalities like Edmonton, but will require Strathcona County to proceed with a great deal of caution and concern. Our residents deserve nothing less than the excellent service they have had over the past many years. It is my hope that we can continue to offer that integrated service, but recent provincial announcements may require us to change. Let's hope the provincial contract will address these municipal concerns.
Jacquie Fenske
Councillor, Ward 5
780-464-8147
fenske@strathcona.ab.ca
Last updated: Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Page ID: 2024