Divided NY City Council Limits Firefighters' Response to Emergencies

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WATERTOWN, NY—Even without the recommendation of the fire chief, a divided City Council on Monday night voted to limit the response of emergency medical calls by the Fire Department.

By a 3-2 vote, council members on Monday night passed a resolution that will mean that the fire department won’t always join Guilfoyle Ambulance on emergency calls.

Under the change, county dispatchers will follow Emergency Management Dispatch protocol to ask a caller a series of questions before determining the level of response.

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Dispatchers have been automatically sending out either the rescue truck or a fire engine, whichever was closest to the scene. Only the rescue truck will now go out on the most serious of calls, but only once a dispatcher decides it should go.

Mayor Jeffrey M. Smith, who proposed the resolution earlier this month, was joined by council members Jesse Roshia and Sarah V. Compo to support the change.

In his assertion, Mayor Smith has always thought that too many city Fire Department vehicles respond to emergency medical service calls.

Before the vote, council members Lisa Ruggiero and Ryan Henry-Wilkinson sought to delay the vote because they had questions about its implications to response calls.

Councilwoman Ruggiero said she wanted more information after Fire Chief Matthew Timerman recommended holding off the decision after he was surprised to learn on Monday night that the rescue truck would only join a Guilfoyle ambulance on more serious calls.

“This is a significant change,” the chief said.

He wondered why the rescue truck also wouldn’t be sent out if there was the manpower and trained staff and it would lead to quicker response times to go out.

Sometimes Guilfoyle needs the assistance of the rescue truck to help get a person in and out of a home and into the ambulance because “not all calls happen in front yards,” the fire chief said.

In wanting a delay of the vote, Councilman Henry-Wilkinson said he wanted to talk to Guilfoyle to find out how the change would impact the ambulance company. The mayor was insistent that there would be no impact since Guilfoyle goes out on all the calls anyway.

Councilwoman Ruggiero also urged a meeting with Jefferson County officials to get their input about the change since the county dispatches the calls.

Calling it “over responding,” he contended that the city Fire Department was treated differently by sending the rescue truck on all calls when only ambulances respond on calls in the other municipalities and are not joined by their fire departments.

He also argued that sending the rescue truck and other fire department vehicles with sirens and lights blaring causes a liability risk if there ever was an accident on the way to a scene.

However, City Attorney Robert J. Slye disagreed with that notion, saying that the county would be on the hook because county dispatch decides on the response.

Daniel Daugherty, president of the firefighters’ union, said the change will hurt city residents because it’s a reduction in city services.

“I think it was a rush to judgment,” he said.

Councilwoman Ruggiero also pointed out that the city needs the county to agree to the change for it to go forward. It wasn’t clear on Monday night what would happen if the county says no.

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