Support Grows for Private Firms to Answer Some Calls for Help : Paramedics: Canoga Park fire officials who ran ’91 pilot program favor plan for handling non-emergencies.

Fire officials involved in a pilot program where 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 cautioned that many issues have not been addressed, including the quality of service to low-income areas and response times.

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 San Fernando Valley, chosen because of its diverse makeup.

“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, and if they determined it wasn’t an emergency, they asked a dispatcher to send for a private ambulance.

In Canoga Park, Stearns said that 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.

“We were so overrun, we couldn’t handle all the calls,” Stearns said. “We were running all these minor calls, like broken legs or fingers.” With the pilot program, “paramedics were available for more advanced calls where they had to hook up an IV or shock a person who had a heart attack.”

Other city officials also warmed to the idea.

Councilman Marvin Braude, who heads the council’s Public Safety Committee, said he would support the idea as long as he can be assured that the private firms have proper training and can provide adequate response times.

“It’s my view that we should do some experimenting with privatization of some emergency services,” he said.

But he said he also wants to make sure that all residents, regardless of their ability to pay, get equal service and response time from private firms.

Officials of at least one ambulance company that participated in the pilot program, Mauran Ambulance of San Fernando, expressed reservations about some companies’ willingness to serve poorer areas because of concerns over safety and patients’ ability to pay.

“I’m sure there would be redlining,” said Donald Mauran, president of Mauran Ambulance, which serves the Valley. Under the pilot program, Mauran said his company served low-income areas but not all firms may be willing to do so.

Councilman Joel Wachs, chairman of the council’s Government Efficiency Committee, said he also favors the idea of using private firms to free up other emergency city crews.

He said he believes privatization may be a viable way to free up other emergency crews and improve response time for true emergencies.

“One moment’s difference on a heart attack may mean the difference between life or death,” he said.

Times staff writer Hugo Martin contributed to this story.