They are first responders and get sent to everything, not just fires.

So many of you are just talking out your .... well, you know. Fire houses are in neighborhoods. Fire engines get their fastest. Fire houses have many, even most, EMTs. Therefore, the first response to a medical emergency is more often than not provided off the back of a fire engine. It's about response times. Not "extra manpower for worker safety" or "moving a big huge person" or "inflating numbers to rationalize head counts." Have none of you ever noticed that there are no "ambulance houses"? Where do you think the EMTs work?

They send multiple vehicles to have extra manpower for worker safety. They never know what they will encounter so more respondents provides safety in numbers.

They come for EVERYTHING. My neighbor falls quite often and calls for help getting up. A whole firetruck AND ambulance comes each and every time. Every time I hear one in the area, I assume it’s my neighbor having fallen again.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They always send the fire truck with the ambulance when they respond to a home medical emergency. My understanding is that they want to make sure that it's safe for the EMTs to enter the premises and want to make sure that the emergency isn't caused by carbon monoxide, smoke, hazardous chemicals, etc. The firemen have the equipment to enter a building during hazardous situations.

B.S. It's to inflate the numbers, so they can rationalize higher headcounts, more overtime, and more equipment for their vendor cronies in the city/county budget. Look how many calls we responded to! We're heroes!

It must be kind of miserable to be so cynical.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They send out the fire truck for medical emergencies, OP. Not just for fires.

Correct. So often the patient is a big huge fatty that they dispatch an engine company along with the ambo to assist with moving a patient.

You seem like the sort of person who shows up in the comment section of local news sites

Anonymous wrote:They always send the fire truck with the ambulance when they respond to a home medical emergency. My understanding is that they want to make sure that it's safe for the EMTs to enter the premises and want to make sure that the emergency isn't caused by carbon monoxide, smoke, hazardous chemicals, etc. The firemen have the equipment to enter a building during hazardous situations.

B.S. It's to inflate the numbers, so they can rationalize higher headcounts, more overtime, and more equipment for their vendor cronies in the city/county budget. Look how many calls we responded to! We're heroes!

I used to work in fire departments. Most emergency medicine is initiated by fire fighters, the vast majority of whom are also EMTs. The goal is to get you an EMT asap, and fire houses have historically been placed in areas where they can minimize the travel time. Some fire stations also have ambulances and paramedics, but not all. The EMTs can determine if the emergency is life-threatening as well. Most municipalities contract out to private ambulance services for Basic Life Support transport.

I’ve never in my life heard that fire fighters have to make sure it is safe for EMTs. And I was in that world for years.