Stockton, California firefighters barred from providing ALS. Without FF/PMs for 1st time since 1976.

A long standing dispute between Stockton, California and San Joaquin County has forced city firefighters to stop providing paramedic services. Starting yesteday, for the first time in 34-years, it is BLS only until paramedics arrive from a private ambulance service. Black tape is covering up the word paramedic on fire trucks and uniforms used by the Stockton Fire Department. California investigators are double checking, making sure that the firefighters aren’t providing ALS.  

This may an oversimplification of a complicated issue, but the city and county have been in court for a while over who provides 911 services and EMS. This has kept the two jurisdictions from renewing an agreement that is required for the city to have paramedics.

More on this in excerpts from an article by Zachary K. Johnson in The Record:

City and county officials say they want an agreement to bring Fire Department paramedics back.

State and county officials said that the people of Stockton were safe Wednesday: firefighters provided basic emergency medical care and worked in tandem with paramedics arriving with responding ambulances. It’s a model used in other California cities.

But there was one instance Wednesday that shows what was lost, according to Stockton Fire.

In that call, firefighters arrived at a scene before an ambulance, but the firefighters were barred from giving the patient medication because that falls under the advanced-life-support list of techniques.

According to the county, an ambulance was delayed to a call because Stockton provided incorrect information to dispatchers. It was unclear Wednesday if these two incidents were the same.

Investigators from the California Emergency Medical Services Authority stationed themselves in teams of two to interview ambulance crews outside emergency rooms to ensure Stockton was not violating state rules by operating paramedic services without an agreement, said June Iljana, deputy director of the state agency. But things ran smoothly, and the investigators wrapped up early, she said. “We’ve just seen great cooperation.”

After the Stockton City Council decided to temporarily suspend paramedic services Tuesday, firefighters began removing advanced-life-support supplies before Wednesday’s 7 a.m. deadline, Deputy Chief Paul Willette said. “We did what we had to do to comply.”