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NZ Fire Brigades To Amb. Corps: Heal Thyself

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THE NEW ZEALAND UNITED FIRE BRIGADES ASSOCIATION has sent a strong hint to the St. John Ambulance service that they are not going to be used as a substitute for St. John’s shortcomings.

Recently the nation’s ambulance service has been coming under fire for stretching resources by putting only one person on their ambulances instead of hiring enough medics.

In testimony before a special parliamentary inquiry into the ambulance service, the Fire Brigades spokesman told the committee that they are not trained to be medics, and in many cases have barely enough skills for basic 1st responder care.  He went further and said that they will not permit being used as replacement units to run emergency medical calls as a substitute for the ambulance.

The local fire brigades are largely volunteer forces, whereas the ambulance service is a paid department.

The New Zealand Press has the STORY.
Related story from yesterday HERE.

Posted by on December 5, 2007 • Filed under: Fire-ology
  • Bob

    Once again you’ve got it wrong.

    Central funding

    Fire Service: Receives $60 a head in central funding (i.e. from the insurance levy)

    St John: Receives $24 a head in central funding (i.e. from ACC, Ministry of Health and District Health Boards)

    Incidents attended

    Fire Service: Attends approx 66,000 incidents a year (including fires, motor accidents, chemical emergencies, medical assistance to Ambulance)

    St John: Attends approx 250,000 emergency incidents a year

    Vehicles

    Fire Service: Approx 800 fire appliances

    St John: Approx 550 ambulances and operational vehicles; (Approx 600 across all NZ Ambulance services)

    Stations

    Fire Stations: Approx 435 fire stations

    St John: 185 ambulance stations; (Approx 200 across all NZ Ambulance services)

    People

    Fire Service: Approx 1,680 career (paid) fire fighter positions; Approx 8,000 urban volunteer fire fighters

    St John: Approx 800 paid ambulance officers; Approx 2,300 volunteer ambulance officers.

    St John wants more money from central Government (double by 2015, which by the way still won’t match Fire Service funding). We’d love to be able to do the job properly – but that relies on being allocated the proper resources.

  • Bob

    Once again you’ve got it wrong.

    Central funding

    Fire Service: Receives $60 a head in central funding (i.e. from the insurance levy)

    St John: Receives $24 a head in central funding (i.e. from ACC, Ministry of Health and District Health Boards)

    Incidents attended

    Fire Service: Attends approx 66,000 incidents a year (including fires, motor accidents, chemical emergencies, medical assistance to Ambulance)

    St John: Attends approx 250,000 emergency incidents a year

    Vehicles

    Fire Service: Approx 800 fire appliances

    St John: Approx 550 ambulances and operational vehicles; (Approx 600 across all NZ Ambulance services)

    Stations

    Fire Stations: Approx 435 fire stations

    St John: 185 ambulance stations; (Approx 200 across all NZ Ambulance services)

    People

    Fire Service: Approx 1,680 career (paid) fire fighter positions; Approx 8,000 urban volunteer fire fighters

    St John: Approx 800 paid ambulance officers; Approx 2,300 volunteer ambulance officers.

    St John wants more money from central Government (double by 2015, which by the way still won’t match Fire Service funding). We’d love to be able to do the job properly – but that relies on being allocated the proper resources.