Consulting Firm Questions Albuquerque’s Paramedic Staffing

[News]

City paid $200,000 for study in effort to improve services.

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[Richard B the EMT]

The minimum for an initial dispatch to a residential structure fire is 18 firefighters. The Albuquerque Fire Department is often sending as many as 31, the report states.

Matrix Consulting Group probably never heard of multi alarm fires.

The report from Matrix Consulting Group, released Friday, also suggests ending the practice of staffing the Albuquerque Fire Department's dispatch center with sworn firefighters. It doesn't say whether the paramedics or dispatchers should be moved elsewhere within the department or let go, but suggests adopting the firm's recommendations on those fronts could save the city more than $500,000 a year in base salaries

Well then, where are temporary light duty personnel to be assigned while they recover? Or if they're not dying but can hobble back and forth, put them back on their apparatus, and risk the lives and health of the others on that apparatus.