Firefighters Win Round in Effort to Add to Duties : Ventura: Council orders study. Department says offering paramedic service would generate city income for tasks it often performs now.

Ventura firefighters have successfully lobbied city leaders to prepare a study on their proposal to take over paramedic services and ambulance transportation.

At the urging of Fire Department management and union officials, the Ventura City Council has ordered Fire Chief Vern Hamilton to submit a detailed report in two weeks on how city firefighters could compete with Pruner Health Services for a contract to serve the city of Ventura.

Firefighters say they already provide first aid to victims and should also assume paramedic duties, including transporting patients, because they are usually the first emergency workers to reach victims. The additional duties would also give the cash-strapped department the potential to generate $100,000 to $150,000 a year, fire officials said.

“As it stands now, those profits go out of the city,” Fire Capt. Rod Smith told the council Monday evening. “At least take a good look at this. We feel we can provide faster, better service, and possibly provide a profit to the city.”

But executives with Pruner, a private firm that now provides the city’s ambulance service, argued that their company’s paramedics already do a good job and that switching to firefighters would cost taxpayers money and expose the city to more lawsuits.

Cost overruns and malpractice lawsuits now are Pruner’s responsibility, said Steve Murphy, chief administrative officer for Pruner, which is based in Thousand Oaks. “That is a risk you do not have with our system.”

The present system is set up so that firefighters are expected to arrive first at a medical emergency. They give first aid, including supplying oxygen and defibrillation treatment. After the Pruner paramedics arrive, they take over the patient’s care and bring him or her to the hospital. Paramedics have more medical training than firefighters, and only five firefighters in the 75-member department are paramedic-trained.

The council will decide later this year whether to allow the Fire Department to challenge Pruner for a contract.

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors, which regulates emergency care in the county, may make the final decision on who will serve Ventura residents. Pruner’s contract to provide ambulance service to all areas in the county except Oxnard and Ojai--which hire other companies--will be up for review by supervisors this summer.

City officials say the law is still unclear whether the county has jurisdiction over emergency medical services within city limits. The two agencies are expecting to resolve the question of jurisdiction later this year, City Atty. Peter D. Buelens said.

During the debate, some firefighters argued fervently for the switch, while Pruner executives made financial-based arguments. At the behest of the firefighters union, two experts on emergency medical services spoke to the council, while Pruner officials came armed with charts and graphs detailing response times.

Firefighters criticized Pruner’s response times, but Pruner officials said they arrive at the scene within 10 minutes on 96.97% of their calls in the city of Ventura. That exceeds the rate of 90% required of Pruner under its contract.

The council made few comments during the public hearing. Shortly before the unanimous vote, Councilman Jack Tingstrom said: “It’s worth going (further) and studying.”

The issue may pose a political dilemma for the council. Many of the council members are pro-business, but have also received political support from the firefighters union.