WASHINGTON — A D.C. Council committee will not support the fire department’s ambulance redeployment plan due to unclear answers about its capacity to address the city’s emergency services’ needs.
The Washington Post reported that D.C. Council member Tommy Wells issued a statement Thursday saying he would recommend disapproval of the plan.
“The committee does not believe that the department is equipped — with adequate information or resources — to execute the proposed plan,” the committee report states.
The ambulance redeployment plan, introduced by Chief Kenneth Ellerbe in November, would reduce the number of ambulances providing critical care overnight, instead making additional ambulance available to respond to calls during daytime hours.
Ambulance staffed by lesser-trained EMTs would be used overnight to provide basic life support, and cross-trained firefighter-paramedics could administer more advanced aid as needed, according to the report.
The plan and the department’s ability to respond to growing emergency needs have come under great scrutiny within the past several months.
Chief Ellerbe admitted in March that the department had been operating for more than a year with an outdated list of department apparatus that included vehicles that had been sold or scrapped.
News that the committee intended to vote down the redeployment plan was a surprise to fire department officials, according to the report.
The committee report notes that disapproval is not based on the merits of the plan itself, rather that members are not wholly convinced the plan will work at this time, according to the report.
“To be very clear, the committee does not oppose [the fire department’s] implementing a redeployment plan that features peak staffing. The committee opposes moving forward with a plan that has been formed without critical information about the department’s current capacity for service,” the report states.
The report also notes that the department has failed to recruit enough paramedics or establish a training program for them, and that it has spent excessive amounts of money on overtime because of the lack of paramedics.