KHQ
SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane City Council passed an emergency ordinance Monday night requiring two-person EMS crews respond to all non-emergency calls. The ordinance affects the Alternative Response Unit (ARU) program of the Spokane Fire Department. The pilot program sent single-person crews to lower acuity calls in an effort to keep larger fire units such as ladder trucks available for bigger emergencies.
According to the ordinance passed Monday in a 5-2 vote, non-emergency medical calls in the city of Spokane are the fastest growing type of response requested of the Spokane Fire Department. The ordinance says that from 1995 to 2012, while structure and working fire responses decreased by 27 percent, EMS calls increased 76 percent.
Despite recommendations in 2013 to add more single person ARU teams, the city operates only two ARUs on a roving basis, one north and one south. The City Council’s emergency ordinance says those two ARUs pose a serious risk to the safety of the firefighter and to patient care because “a single person cannot conduct scene control in dangerous situations while also administering needed medical attention.”
Read full story: City Council passes ordinance requiring 2-person EMS crews