CLEVELAND, Ohio — The city’s Fire Training Academy opened its doors today to six EMS paramedics, who began eight weeks of training in what city officials described as a “huge” step toward merging Cleveland’s divisions of Fire and EMS, possibly by year’s end.
The paramedics, who are already state certified as firefighters but need training on how Cleveland operates, join a class of fire cadets who are about half way through their training at the academy. Once training is completed, the EMS workers will return to their current assignments pending negotiations between the city and three unions.
“It’s a huge step,” said Ed Eckart, the city’s assistant safety director. “Even though it’s six people — that’s a small number — in terms of the next step, getting the integration done, it’s a huge step.”
Full story: Cleveland’s goal is to merge EMS and fire divisions by year’s end