FOUNTAIN VALLEY : New Deployment of Planned

Stationing paramedics on fire engines will result in improved service and faster response time for residents of the north and northwest sections of the city, an official said.

Rather than being dispatched by van, as in the past, paramedics in that area now will work out of the fire station at Warner Avenue and Newhope Street, Fire Chief Bernard F. Heimos said.

Heimos said that 70% of the department’s calls citywide are for medical assistance.

The new program will put four firefighters on each engine instead of the current three, Heimos said. “They can do twice as much work as a three-person engine,” he said.

The change to eliminate one paramedic van and provide two paramedic engine companies was approved this week by the City Council as part of the adoption of a $23.4-million budget for fiscal 1995-96.

The council approved spending as much as $60,000 for paramedic training for three firefighters. That is about what the city would have spent for a new paramedic van, Heimos said.

When hiring firefighters in the future, he said, the department will seek candidates already trained as paramedics.

The council also approved spending $17,000 to replace equipment, including firefighters’ breathing apparatus and engine hoses; and $14,000 for fire-retardant uniforms for the department’s 38 firefighters.

The department’s budget for 1995-96 is $4.7 million, a 3% increase over last year. Heimos said the increase is because the fire and building departments were consolidated.