By Chelsea Phua
Sacramento Bee
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — During her first year working for the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District, firefighter Michelle Arcediano didn’t get to fight a structure fire.
None happened on her shifts.
“Not even a teaser, not even a smoker,” Arcediano said.
In the two busy years since she graduated from the district’s academy, she can count on one hand the number of burning buildings she has encountered.
The work of firefighters has evolved. They have become paramedics, hazardous material specialists and first responders to major disasters ranging from floods and plane crashes to homeland security threats.
Over the past 30 years, they have battled fewer wildland and structure fires. And everything from recruitment and training to equipment has changed.
“Our mission has gotten a lot more complicated,” said Capt. Tom Sherlock, a Sacramento firefighter with more than four decades of experience. “The variety of things that we run into are more.”
Rescue and emergency medical calls make up 60 to 80 percent of their work around the country, firefighters say.
The development of the 911 system and changes in the health care system have led to the public relying more on firefighters-paramedics for medical needs.
People without health insurance often go without treatment until they need to call for an ambulance. Or patients call 911 for a cold or stomachache, because their doctors are not as readily available as the paramedics, fire officials said.
Figures from the National Fire Protection Association show medical aid calls in the United States have increased by about 180 percent in the last three decades, from about 5 million in 1980 to 14 million in 2005. In the same period, fire incidents dropped by nearly 50 percent, from 3 million to 1.6 million.
California and local data largely reflect the national trend. In the city of Sacramento city, data from 1985 to 2006 show an overall increase in calls and an increase in emergency medical calls. The number of fire calls remains almost the same year to year, though, bucking the national downward trend.
Capt. Jim Doucette of the Sacramento Fire Department explains that Sacramento is an older city: Victorian houses in midtown and downtown do not have fire stops, sprinklers and other features found in newer buildings that help to prevent or suppress fires.
“Many people want to join the department because they want the experience of firefighting,” Doucette said.
Firefighters’ role evolved
Kevin Olson, training chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, joked that his father – who was a firefighter with the department from 1952 to 1981 – would have chosen another career if he had to respond to medical aid calls.
“He loved to fight fires,” Olson said. But not the needles, the blood or going to hospitals – the everyday staples of many firefighters today.
How the profession changed is being meticulously documented by a San Diego firefighter-paramedic, Mitch Mendler.
Before the 1960s, mortuaries and private companies provided most of the country’s ambulance services. However, neither mode provided adequate standards of pre-hospital emergency care.
Firefighters took on the new task because, as many firefighters explain, they were simply available. They were also already trained in first aid.
“We’ve always been there for emergencies,” Olson said.
Just as fire departments around the country began incorporating paramedic services, Mendler said, “Fire prevention became better.”
Municipal governments also realized that emergency medical runs generated significant revenue, Mendler said.
Then in 1972, a television series “Emergency!” debuted, featuring the lives of paramedics at a Los Angeles County fire station (and a Sacramento-born star, Randolph Mantooth). The popular five-year show brought to the nation’s attention the fledging EMS system and the new paramedic roles undertaken by firefighters, Mendler said.
“It inspired cities, politicians and little boys,” said Mendler, now in his 50s. “Guys like me who saw that show said, ‘That’s it! That’s what I’m doing!’”
Sacramento Metro Fire Engineer Bob Webber recalls responding to a vehicle accident scene in 1978 as an 18-year-old firefighter.
A woman folded in the seat – her legs broken – screamed in pain.
About half a dozen firefighters, including Webber, tended to her – none of them paramedics. The woman, who survived, would have received a higher level of care from paramedics today, he said.
Training standards raised
Over the years, fire departments have raised the entry-level education and training requirements for firefighters. Candidates with paramedic skills often stand a better chance of being hired.
About 42 percent of Sacramento Metropolitan firefighters are also paramedics. That statistic is 63 percent in the city’s Fire Department.
When Jim Eastman Jr. started his career in 1974, young firefighters often volunteered before being hired. They faced a less competitive environment, said Eastman, Sacramento Metro deputy chief of support services.
“In the old days we were just fire-oriented,” said Eastman. “Now we are considered all-risk – animal rescue, medical aids, vehicle accidents – you name it, we go.”
That means residents are getting more services for their tax dollars, Eastman said.
“Because of the specialization that we are experiencing now, we need people now that are broadly trained,” said Steven Broderick, deputy fire marshal for the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District.
“Before, it was: Put you on an engine, give you a hose, and we’ll teach you how to fight a fire when you get there,” Cal Fire’s Olson said, half-jokingly.