Fire Officials Defend Having Firm Handle Non-Emergency Calls

Fire officials involved in a pilot program in the San Fernando Valley in which private firms were used to handle non-emergency paramedic calls defended the program Wednesday, saying it freed firefighters to concentrate on more serious, life-threatening calls.

“We thought it was a good deal,” said Capt. Alfred Stearns of the Canoga Park fire station, where the pilot program ran for nine months in 1991. “If we were tied up with another call, we could call the next closest private ambulance. But now we have to call the closest (city) paramedics.”

Stearns joined a growing number of city officials supporting a plan to turn over non-emergency calls to private companies. Los Angeles City Fire Chief Donald O. Manning proposed such a plan Tuesday, acting on a directive from Mayor Richard Riordan to cut costs and privatize some services.

Battalion Chief Roger Gillis said the city could save close to $6 million by contracting out some services, but he cautioned that many issues have not been addressed, including response times and the quality of service to low-income areas.

A final report on the plan said the program would reduce the Fire Department’s workload and save money, but Gillis said “there needs to be further research done. It is a workable program, but not citywide.”

The 1991 pilot program was conducted at 37 fire stations in the Valley, chosen because of its diversity.

“The Valley has a little bit of everything,” Gillis said. “It would give us a fairly general overview of the situation.”

Under the program, fire paramedics were the first to respond to a call. If they determined it was not an emergency, they asked a dispatcher to send for a private ambulance.

In Canoga Park, Stearns said, it gets so busy sometimes that fire paramedics have to be brought in from as far as Van Nuys to handle local calls. The pilot program allowed them to call the closest private ambulance.