By Mitch Hotts
The Macomb Daily
STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. — Sterling Heights fire officials gathered with Macomb County leaders on Tuesday to unveil two new initiatives aimed at improving emergency response times and public safety.
The first is a peak demand unit with two basic life support (BLS) ambulances staffed by four newly-hired EMT firefighters. It operates Tuesday-Friday, 10 hours a day, to free up advanced life support (ALS) paramedic rigs for more severe calls.
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The second is medical priority dispatching, which attributes a color-coded system (with blue being the highest priority, green the lowest ) to make sure the right service responds to 911 calls.
By strategically deploying BLS ambulances during peak demand hours and implementing a medical priority dispatch system, Sterling Heights can match the right resources to each emergency, officials said.
Fire Chief Kevin Edmond said the peak demand unit is the first of its kind in the Metro Detroit/ Macomb County region.
“The focus of both initiatives is to improve the response capability of the fire department with the ever-increasing emergency calls we are seeing across the city,” the chief said. “Our department wants to be sure we are sending the right resources at the right time to an emergency.”
Edmond said the program, which started Sept. 23 , provides additional manpower to handle basic EMS calls during times when the highest number are made. The move leaves paramedics for the more critical calls for service, which typically involve heart attacks, cardiac arrest, strokes, or breathing difficulties.
A basic life support (BLS) ambulance is shown inside Station 5. The rig will be staffed by two newly hired EMT firefighters and operates 10 hours per day Tuesday-Friday when the demand for services peaks. ( MITCH HOTTS — THE MACOMB DAILY)
Officials also expect the new method to reduce firefighter fatigue.
Statistics from the program’s first eight days, the unit responded to 39 calls or 8% of the total number, officials said.
“We want to make sure that at the most critical times of the day, we have extra staffing available to address those needs,” said Mayor Michael Taylor .
In the other initiative, Sterling Heights began medical priority dispatching, which started Oct. 1 in partnership with Macomb County Communications and Technology Center (COMTEC).
Under this system, every 911 medical call will be assessed through a color-coded priority scale of red, blue, orange, yellow, and green. That will allow dispatchers to send the most appropriate resources based on the urgency.
Red and blue calls will receive a fire engine from the Sterling Heights Fire Department and the closest advanced life support ambulance staffed by paramedics. Yellow and green calls will be handled by the peak demand unit’s EMTs.
Sterling Heights is the first city in Michigan to launch this program, officials said.
City and county representatives said the strategy comes at a time when communities across the country face recruiting challenges in police and fire services, and as EMS calls continue to increase due to an aging population and expansion of extended care facilities such as nursing homes.
Angela Elsey, COMTEC director, said under the system the dispatcher will ask the caller a series of questions. Based on the answers, Elsey explained, the system will determine which fire apparatus is appropriate to handle the call.
If it’s determined the caller is experiencing indigestion and not a heart attack, “you don’t need to run lights and sirens and through red lights to get there,” she said.
In an unrelated development, city officials were scheduled later Tuesday to participate in a groundbreaking ceremony to kick off the redevelopment of Fire Station 5 on Ryan Road.
According to a news release, the redevelopment marks the first time the station has undergone upgrades since its construction more than 30 years ago.
The new, state-of-the-art facility will feature:
- Separate living apartments for firefighters and paramedics
- State-of-the-art gear cleaning facilities designed to reduce carcinogen exposure
- Expanded bay areas to accommodate modern, larger emergency vehicles
- A new administrative headquarters
- Additional safety, operational, and aesthetic improvements
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