That’s So Crazy, It Just Might Work!

Colorado Fire Department to test smaller vehicles for medical calls.

By Erica Meltzer
The Daily Camera

BOULDER, Colo. — Medical calls, not fires, account for more than half of all calls to which Boulder Fire-Rescue crews respond, and the number of medical calls increased 17 percent from 2006 to 2011.

Boulder's fire department is looking at adding smaller vehicles for paramedics to respond to many of those calls without sending a fire engine or — when engines aren't available — a ladder truck.

Boy, if only they made a vehicle smaller and far less expensive to buy, fuel and maintain than a ladder truck, that could be staffed with a crew of two, that still had enough room for lifesaving gear and a patient!

Why, I bet you could even use it to – *GASP!* – take patients to the hospital. I bet there might even be a way to get paid for doing that!

</sarcasm>

Here's a novel idea: Let fire handle fire calls, and let EMS do EMS calls. And if the current ambulance provider can't or won't field enough ambulances to meet response time standards without distracting the FD from their core mission, then maybe Boulder could replace them with another company that will.

Wouldn't that be even less expensive than this "solution?"

Update: Looks like I'm not the only one who thinks that way.

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