Paramedic Engines to Cut Response Times

If you have a heart attack in the Valley, you can expect to wait nearly seven minutes on average for emergency medical assistance to arrive. In the northeast Valley, you’ll probably wait several minutes longer.

The Los Angeles Fire Department hopes to shave 2 1/2 minutes off its emergency medical response time with the addition of six paramedic assessment engines for the city, three of which will be assigned to the Valley.

Mayor Richard Riordan joined Fire Department officials Friday in introducing the new emergency medical resources during a ceremony at Fire Station 73 in Reseda. Since he was elected in 1993 with strong backing from the Valley, Riordan has vowed to address long-standing complaints from its residents who fear they do not receive their fair share of city services.

The additional paramedic engines bring the total number serving the city to 17, 11 of which serve the Valley. Each is a standard firetruck outfitted with medical life-saving equipment and staffed by a paramedic.

“The Fire Department is usually the first one to arrive at an emergency situation, and one of our ambulances arrives a few minutes later,” said LAFD Battalion Chief Ralph Ramirez. “Now, as soon as that firetruck arrives, you’ll have a trained paramedic with advanced life-saving medical resources on board. That’s going to be the key impact on cutting down our response time.”