Leaderboard

In order to understand why EMS and fire have become "married" in this country(I can't speak for outside the US), you need to understand the history and logistics of providing first responder care. Fire Departments have the established infrastructure to handle emergency response. They have the manpower, the equipment, the locations, and the only thing left is the training. When EMS was absorbed into the fire service, they were and still are in many cases-a necessary evil. The fire service would assist with manpower and basic training but never had to completely assimilate EMS into the fold. As fire calls dropped, in order to maintain their budgets and manpower,the fire service became more intimately involved in prehospital care not by choice, but by necessity. Fire budgets are dictated by tax revenue, and with more demands on that finite amount of cash, they realized that EMS generates revenue. That is the bottom line folks-the almighty dollar- it has nothing to do with providing a "better" quality of care or service to the public.