Fire and EMS

[firsq]

Good day all, other than Winnipeg does any other Fire Department in Canada offer a combined fire and EMS service?
Stay Safe
Yvon

[FFPez]

I believe Owen Sound does.

www.owensoundfireems.com

[firedorval]

WE do it here In Fort McMurray, Alberta. You also have Strathcona Coutnry, Red Deer, Lethbridge and St-Albert, all in Alberta as well.

Maybe i've forgotten some but those are the ones who come to mind...

[FireChef]

I know Edmonton has both Fire and EMS in some stations together, does that qualify??

[ABFF37]

I know Edmonton has both Fire and EMS in some stations together, does that qualify??
That's fairly common in many cities across North America. In the case of cities such as Edmonton or Calgary while the two services do share some facilites, they remain as two completely seperate services. In other words all firefighters are Fire Department staff, and all paramedics are EMS staff. There would be absoluetly no cross over between firefighters and EMS personnel, so to answer your question...no, departments like this are not a combined or integrated services...two completely seperate entities.

AB

[FireChef]

Ahhh, thanks for the clarification!!

[atlanticff]

Spuce Grove, Cochrane (i think) Kitimat, Brandon, Thompson, Yellowknife, Iqaluit, Riverview, are also all Integrated Departments.
Thats all I can think of

[sgfs]

Airdrie, Leduc i thnk Peace River still as well

[WalkerEMT]

Canmore is dual as well.

[Josh00]

yep on the Peace River, we're still integrated and it's working Great.

There were also some rumors about Grande Prairie going integrated.

And I think Edmonton WAS integrated at one time but then separated.

There's a crapload that are integrated, if someone's ambitious enough research through the Departments page on firehall.com:eating:

[LFD_FF17]

Edmonton has never been Integrated, Old management tried and it didnt work and it created lots of tension. Then those chiefs left (i dont know if it was on their own or if they were shown the door) But one of the Deputies then went to Winnipeg and made the WFPS.

They created the Edmonton Emergency Response Department, and there were alot more firehalls with ambulances in them then there is now, but they never had just one chief and they still remainded 2 seperate departments just had one name though.

at least thats as far as i know, i could be wrong though.

[dakota]

[QUOTE=FFPez]I believe Owen Sound does.


The City of Owen Sound tried to merge EMS and Fire together a few years ago but it never worked out, EMS is now county operated and Fire only provides tiered 1st response for medical services.

[nbffmedic]

riverview, nb is no longer doing ems,just fire. the city of moncton just took over thier ambulance. i think the chief from that dept is pretty happy about that to because of the financial cost of doing mutual aid in moncton all the time. that's what i heard?

[FirefighterNB]

As of this morning they were still doing ambulance calls. It hasn't happemed yet but soon and it is not the city of Moncton that runs the ambulance it is The Moncton Hospital.

[spfd_fire]

They still have a ambulance till July 1st. It cost the town $900 000 to run both ambulance and the province is only paying $630 000. If I remember correctly. The town of Riverview was on the hock for the remainder of the bill. Also I think that at least 60% of the ambulance run where in Moncton, if not more. The city of Moncton needs atleast 2 more ambulances to add to the 2 that is in use now. Every day or most time there is a ambulance coming from somewhere like Shediac to come in and help out the city, after they unload their patient they came in with.

[mthole70]

Hi Yvon
I'm a firefighter/paramedic with the City of Brandon Fire Department. We do a dual role here and it works really nice! 2 halls, 52 firefighter/paramedics. bottom 4 guys/gals on each shift work the ambulance on all medical calls with a rescue unit staffed by 2 FF's backing them up. That isn't to say that we don't get fires though. I'm a junior guy which means I ride the amb. but if we catch a structure fire in our halls coverage area on the days that I attend, I jump on the pump where I set my turnouts, and am on the knob first in the door with the attendant off the rescue. The amb driver suits up and pulls the backup line with the driver of the rescue. I like both aspects of the job so this department is great for both worlds. I'm licenced as a PCP/EMT B with alot of advanced skills and also have my ACLS certification. Hope this helps
Mike

[fortsmithman]

That's fairly common in many cities across North America. In the case of cities such as Edmonton or Calgary while the two services do share some facilites, they remain as two completely seperate services. In other words all firefighters are Fire Department staff, and all paramedics are EMS staff. There would be absoluetly no cross over between firefighters and EMS personnel, so to answer your question...no, departments like this are not a combined or integrated services...two completely seperate entities.

AB

Would not this be a unified department where fire puts the wet stuff on the red stuff and EMS does the medical.

[cprted]

Would not this be a unified department where fire puts the wet stuff on the red stuff and EMS does the medical.
A combined Fire/EMS department is where paramedics and firefighters get their paycheques from the same organisation, wear the same uniform, and in many cases are interchangeable. IE, you're hired as a Firefighter/Paramedic. One shift you're on an ambulance, the next your driving a fire apparatus.

[braidjansen]

A combined Fire/EMS department is where paramedics and firefighters get their paycheques from the same organisation, wear the same uniform, and in many cases are interchangeable. IE, you're hired as a Firefighter/Paramedic. One shift you're on an ambulance, the next your driving a fire apparatus.

I don't know...I know that in the US it is very common to have cross trained firefighter's and paramedics who can switch from one role to the other...I work with two fire departments and two different ems services here in Ontario and it seems to me that both organizations have become so specialised that that kind of integration would be impossible here. Also consider this...I know a lot of paramedics who due to body mass, vision etc would never be able to pass muster as a fire fighter. I also know a lot of fire fighters who lack the academic skills required to pass the two year college level primary care paramedic program that is the minimum education requirement for an ems job here in the Province of Ontario. Your eligible pool of applicants is getting very small if you require the medical and physical fitness requirements of a firefighter and the education requirements of a PCP. Don't get me wrong, I think that there are many areas where integration is possible (communications, administration, logistics etc) but I think the ship has sailed and the complete integration of the two services is not possible at this point.

[fortsmithman]

That why I said unified department much like unification of the Canadian Forces in 1967-68. In a unified department you would wear the same uniform get paid from the same department but do different tasks. prior to the unification of the Canadian Forces in 67-68 we had separate military branches when unification happened the force became one force, but they continued to do their own think air command in air, maritime command in the water, and land forces on land. So when EMS merges with fire as a unified agency the medics would look after the medical side and Fire would look after the suppression side of things much like the Canadian forces when they unified.

[pocfire]

Does anyone think the ambulance service will merge with the fire service in BC? I know rumors go around here and there.

[mike12345]

I don't know...I know that in the US it is very common to have cross trained firefighter's and paramedics who can switch from one role to the other...I work with two fire departments and two different ems services here in Ontario and it seems to me that both organizations have become so specialised that that kind of integration would be impossible here. Also consider this...I know a lot of paramedics who due to body mass, vision etc would never be able to pass muster as a fire fighter. I also know a lot of fire fighters who lack the academic skills required to pass the two year college level primary care paramedic program that is the minimum education requirement for an ems job here in the Province of Ontario. Your eligible pool of applicants is getting very small if you require the medical and physical fitness requirements of a firefighter and the education requirements of a PCP. Don't get me wrong, I think that there are many areas where integration is possible (communications, administration, logistics etc) but I think the ship has sailed and the complete integration of the two services is not possible at this point.

I work fire and EMS. I know a lot of medics who also lack the required academic and practical skills to work on an ambulance.

[nocomment]

Does anyone think the ambulance service will merge with the fire service in BC? I know rumors go around here and there.

That has been a Rumour for years. If you ask BCAS guy's and gal's some think it's gonna happen at some point and some think" No F'in chance" . I think BCAS would be happy with the wages, benefits, and job security offered by the IAFF. But I honestly don't see it happening anytime soon.

[northernmedic]

I would say the chances are pretty much nil at this point. The biggest opportunity would have been in 2010 with Kevin Falcon's review. This is when we were moved under the Provincial Health Services Authority. In reality there are maybe only a dozen departments at the most in the province who have any interest in really taking on a bigger EMS role and of those I think it is mainly the chief's and IAFF locals, not the crews on the floor, who have the interest. I would say it would be a more likely scenario if we had larger Metro fire departments in the GVRD but I can't really see that happening any time soon either.

[cprted]

If I were a city counselor, mayor, or city administrator, I would be scared shi*less if the Province downloaded Ambulance service onto the municipalities. In these days of tight budgets and cities going bankrupt, I can't see any municipality wanting to take on that responsibility.