Letter: Firefighter comments on ambulance costs

This letter is in response to the article in Monday's edition about Carson City raising the ambulance subsidy.

Speaking for myself only, I feel the public deserves to know about the crux of this issue, and the article doesn't address it. Supervisor Williamson, specifically, appears to be uninformed about fire department operations, based on her quoted comments. I would like to clarify these.

The Emergency Medical Services (paramedics, ambulances and their support) is an enterprise fund operation within the Carson City Fire Department. It is run like a private business, with the aim of paying for itself. Of the reported $1,880,000 budget, $1,705,000 is covered by revenue generated by the paramedics in the ambulances providing advanced life support to the community. The taxpayer subsidy in question makes up the shortfall which occurs for reasons mentioned in the article. The subsidy does not just "buy new ambulances," as the article simplistically states. It allows the board to fund a level of service; i.e., paramedic response, that their constituents have requested.

What the board fails to understand, apparently, is how else this money benefits the people of Carson City. The 15 personnel paid under this fund are firefighter/paramedics. They fill 15 necessary fire suppression positions within the department. They are not extra firefighters. They make it possible to provide the current level of service for fire suppression, although not paid with general fund tax money, subsidy excluded. This, as the board well knows, is at a time when the fire chief is trying to increase the number of firefighters in the department to comply with federal fire fighting mandates. How would losing 15 firefighters help serve that purpose? How about even maintaining the level of fire service the board has so conscientiously decided upon?

These firefighter/paramedics serve many valuable functions within the fire department. With years of training, they work as members of the Hazmat team, rescue specialists, instructors and acting captains and engineers, to name a few. They are more than just debits on the books; they are assets to the community.

Supervisor Williamson is reportedly "dismayed" at the subsidy and wants to look at options, including privatizing the ambulance service. Well and good. Review and options are valuable tools. but would she like to trade this current situation for a new budgeting nightmare? Work on this: hire and pay 15 new highly trained firefighters, give the dispatch center $100,000 and buy medical equipment and supplies (the fire department will always provide medical response, even if the ambulances are privatized) for $175,000 to $300,000 per year. She will come up with a new definition of a "hefty chunk of change," I can assure you.

This community deserves to understand how their public services are delivered. I challenge the elected representatives to get the facts, understand them, present them accurately, and avoid the dramatic, knee-jerk responses.

SCOTT PETERSON

Firefighter/Paramedic

Carson City Fire Department