I hate that they do this. I mean, sure, on paper, it makes budgetary sense. Fire is doing less and less thanks to better building materials, sprinkler systems, safety equipment and other factors like safer appliances. There just aren't that many fires these days.
Meanwhile, EMS keeps getting more and more expensive. Not only does our equipment cost a bundle thanks to the health care industry's self inflated prices, but as the baby boomers get older and older we are going to be busier and busier. We are just going to take up more money.
Now, you can't eliminate FD, because although there aren't many fires these days, you want them on hand when there IS. And since they aren't doing anything besides training and eating in between fires, you might as well have them handle EMS, right? That makes sense!
Except how it works. With separate systems, you said a two man team to a typical medical call, four to six if it's a code. They handle the call, transport to the hospital, and return to the station for the next call. With a combined system, FD dispatches an ambulance, and an engine. That's six guys on the engine, four of which don't even get out of the truck at the call, and of course the two in the ambulance. They help grandma after she stubs her toe, and everyone goes home happy.
Problem is, while that engine was out, a fire call came in they weren't able to take because grandma stubbed her toe. A neighboring station had to take the call. Now the chief can argue to the city council that they obviously need another engine and two more night/day crews to run it, since their call volume is exceeding the their current staffing. NOW the city has to buy another half million dollar truck, pay for six more persons per night, and they STILL send out the same dang ambulance to handle grandma and her dang stubbed toe.
And the kicker is that I know very few firefighters who want to be EMS. They got into it because they wanted to fight fires, not deal with medical situations. Usually the people who get into the ambulance are the ones who wanted to be medics and hand to join the FD to do so, and just want to ride the truck anyway.
It's an idiotic system in the long term. But that's the problem, politicians don't think long term. They think in short term, so they can look good and move up in the ranks. If they can make the budget look pretty this year, it doesn't matter if it's in the red next year, because if everything goes right they'll have ascended to a higher office by then.
/just had to vent
