Albuquerque City Council approves paramedic firefighter staffing proposal

By Alyssa Munoz

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    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KOAT) — Albuquerque City Council approved a proposal Monday night about paramedic firefighter staffing.

Both Councilor Dan Lewis and Joaquin Baca proposed a resolution requiring a minimum of two paramedic firefighters on a rescue unit, also known as an ambulance. While the local firefighter union agrees with this, the fire chief said it could hurt response times.

Albuquerque Fire Rescue responds to calls based on a triage system.

“Based on how serious that call is, you either get a BLS, a basic life support unit, which is generally an engine, or the paramedic response, which is generally a rescue. If it’s critical, like a heart attack, a cardiac arrest, you would get both,” said AFR Chief Emily Jaramillo.

Traditionally, the rescue carries two paramedics. However, over the past two years, the department has tried another model that splits the paramedics one in a rescue and another in a fire truck [engine] to expand coverage.

“An engine may get dispatched out to a call that doesn’t sound that serious. Then you get there, and you realize, oh, this is a really sick patient. Sometimes, they have to call for a rescue to get that paramedic on the way. This would allow to improve that response time to that patient,” Jaramillo said.

Under the resolution, all fire stations would need to abide by the old standard of two paramedics in the rescue. Miguel Tittmann, the union president of IAFF Local 244, said he agrees with the resolution.

“It protects the staffing model that we currently have and that we’ve always done. Our firefighters are very good at it. They’ve been honing this craft for 40-plus years,” Tittmann said.

“Cutting back on paramedic coverage would lead to longer response times for people who need advanced care,” Jaramillo said. “As the fire chief, it’s my responsibility to make these critical lifesaving decisions, not politicians. I have significant concerns that this proposed resolution could have a negative impact on public safety and impede our ability to expand Advanced Life Support coverage in the neighborhoods that need it most.”

Tittmann said he supports expanding, but the department should hire more paramedics for the engine rather than split the two they have now.

“She’s calling that expansion. And what it truly is, is dilution of the services that we currently provide. We currently provide two paramedics on rescues, and we’re not against expansion. We’ve always supported expansion, but not at the expense of losing what we currently have,” Tittmann said.

The council approved the resolution on a 7-2 vote Monday night.

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