Plan Urges Contracting Out to Aid Paramedics : Services: Fire chief proposes hiring private firms to handle non-emergency situations, saving $6 million in the first year.

Acting on a mayoral directive to cut costs and privatize some services, Los Angeles City Fire Chief Donald O. Manning proposed a plan Tuesday to hire private firms--and perhaps use trained volunteers--to handle non-emergency calls to free paramedic units for more urgent needs.

Battalion Chief Roger Gillis, the department’s community liaison officer, said the department estimated it could save $6 million in the first year and roughly $2.8 million in succeeding years.

“Anytime we take away or remove a service, we’re not happy about it,” Gillis said. “The other side of that is that what we’re hoping to offer is a quicker, better, faster service to calls we know are emergencies.”

Gillis said Manning outlined the proposal Tuesday to the Board of Fire Commissioners, and a written proposal will be submitted to the board within 30 days.

Gillis said the proposal was developed at the direction of the office of Mayor Richard Riordan, who campaigned on a platform of contracting some city services to private companies to increase efficiency.

The savings would immediately place 78 firefighters--now assigned to lower-echelon emergency medical service--back on fire engines and decrease response times for the 52 remaining ambulance units staffed by fully qualified paramedics, he said.

There are two lower-level medical units and 14 paramedic ambulances in the Valley, said Brian Humphrey, a department spokesman.

About 60,000 of the department’s 317,000 calls last year were for non-emergency complaints such as “stubbed toes, stomachaches, even broken limbs,” which could be handled by private ambulance companies, Gillis said.

If the plan is adopted, paramedics or firefighters with emergency medical technician training would be dispatched whenever the nature of the injuries was unclear, Gillis said.

The average response time for a Fire Department emergency medical vehicle is 4 1/2 to 6 minutes, Gillis said, acknowledging that service to mountainous or outlying areas takes longer.

There have also been informal discussions among department administrators of training resident volunteers in large apartment complexes to assist in non-emergency calls, Gillis said.

The proposal is based on a pilot program, with private ambulance companies, used in the San Fernando Valley between January and August, 1991. Fire officials consider it a success, he said, and hope to duplicate it on a citywide basis. But they acknowledge that it will be more difficult.

One of the concerns raised by Gillis is identifying private ambulance companies that could promise response times comparable to those required by the Fire Department. Another sticking point is that private companies may not be eager to service poor areas of the city, where bills for emergency services are often not paid, Gillis said.

Another potential holdup is the safety of private emergency workers, said Gillis, noting that there were 68 assaults on firefighters in 1993.

The plan is made necessary by dwindling department resources since the 1978 passage of Proposition 13, which cut property tax revenue to municipalities across the state, Gillis said. Since that time, fire calls have doubled while the number of firefighters has failed to keep pace, rising by 17.8%, he said.

Manning’s comments were made at a regular meeting of the five-member Board of Fire Commissioners. David W. Fleming, vice president of the commission, said he favors exploring the idea as “a win-win situation.”

“I know the mayor wants to raise both police and fire salaries next year, and that would free up some dollars to do that,” Fleming added.