Mayor’s Spending Plan Proposes Funds to Add 81 Paramedics

In an effort to slash emergency response times, Mayor Richard Riordan announced Tuesday that his proposed 2001-02 budget includes funds for 81 new paramedics and 25 new ambulances.

The $10-million plan would also meet the Los Angeles Fire Department’s goal of having a paramedic at each of its 102 stations.

The budget proposal is the first step in meeting Fire Chief William R. Bamattre’s ultimate goal of adding 500 new paramedics over five years, mayoral spokeswoman Valerie Melloff said. Fire officials say more paramedics are a necessity in an era when approximately 80% of the department’s calls are for medical emergencies.

Currently, 13 fire stations citywide have no paramedics and 29 have no ambulances, Fire Capt. Bill Wells said Tuesday.

San Fernando Valley firehouses without paramedics are Stations 70 and 103 in Northridge and Station 75 in Mission Hills.

Others citywide are in Mid-Wilshire, the Los Angeles International Airport area, Mar Vista, Highland Park, San Pedro, Glassell Park, El Sereno, and Wilmington, as well as on the Eastside and Terminal Island.

Paramedics from nearby stations respond as needed in these areas, but their average response time can be more than a minute longer than in areas that have paramedics.

“Our goal is to improve response time of paramedics by 30 seconds throughout the city and by two minutes in those areas that don’t have [a paramedic] now,” said Riordan after a press conference with Bamattre at Station 102 in Van Nuys.

Riordan said no sacrifices will have to be made to implement the new program, citing better-than-expected tax revenues for the coming year.

“We are more than confident that we’ll have that money,” he said.

The Fire Department budget is now $361 million, and the mayor’s office expects to propose $44 million more in next year’s budget, which will be unveiled April 18.

Although Riordan has supported adding more paramedics, the mayor’s deputies in the past have questioned whether increasing the number by 500 was the best way to meet response-time goals.

When city councilman and mayoral candidate Joel Wachs announced his support of the fire chief’s 500-medic plan in January, he was criticized for grandstanding by a spokesman for opponent Steve Soboroff--whom Riordan supports.

Mayoral spokesman Peter Hidalgo said Riordan’s announcement was not a political move, adding that Riordan joined council members in September in declaring a “paramedic emergency” and authorizing the hiring of more than 100 paramedics.

Regardless of whether the upcoming mayoral election played a part in the announcement, it addresses a real need, Fire Commission President David Fleming said.

“We went to the mayor and said, ‘Look, you’ve spent a lot of money on police . . . now we need you to take a look at the Fire Department,’ ” he said. “Because [the Fire Department]is on the front lines of health care.”

Citywide, the average response time for emergency medical calls is 5.8 minutes, Bamattre said. The Fire Department’s goal is to reduce the average to under five minutes, he said.

Fire Capt. Steve Ruda--and a number of firefighters who work in stations with paramedics--said the proposal made good sense.

“When you need us, you need us now,” Ruda said. “This is simple--it will give us the opportunity to reduce response times.”