Pasadena : Paramedics to Merge With Fire Department

The Board of City Directors has voted to merge the city’s paramedic service with the Fire Department, a move that officials expect to save the city about $200,000 a year. The merger, which will take effect sometime in the fall, ends months of controversy over what to do with the city’s 21-member Paramedic Department.

City officials had initially proposed cutting the Paramedic Department in order to help balance the 1985-86 budget. The board also has voted to hire an independent consultant in January to study the feasibility of offering paramedic services under an exclusive contract with a private operator that would act as a public utility. City Manager Donald F. McIntyre said that approach, which is used in a few cities across the country, could save Pasadena about $400,000 a year, the amount the city now pays in subsidies to the Paramedic Department.