ENGINE COMPANY ORDERED TO GO OUT OF SERVICE

On Tuesday January 5, 2010 Fire Director John Archer issued his first directive, General Order 10-01.  The General Order instructs firefighters to ABANDON the fire engine if there are back to back medical calls and staff the second ambulance.  This leaves only the Captain in the firehouse, the fire engine will be OUT OF SERVICE and UNABLE TO RESPOND TO FIRES.

The issue is quite the dilemma.  Many times when someone calls for an ambulance, seconds count.  We need to arrive as quickly as possible in order to initiate life saving measures.  However, we need to carefully balance the needs of all the residents that we protect.  When those two firefighters are staffing the second ambulance, there is no chance for a timely response of the fire engine.  We have had tremendous success extinguishing fires when we arrive within minutes of being dispatched.  Additionally, as many of you already know, our fire engine is equipped to treat people suffering from medical emergencies and traumatic injuries.  It would be much more logical to keep the FIRE ENGINE IN SERVICE and call for an ambulance from another town than it would to take the FIRE ENGINE OUT OF SERVICE.  We can still respond with the fire engine and provide emergency medical services.

So, what is the driving force behind this?  Our guess, MONEY.  Every time that ambulance transports someone to the hospital, Robbinsville Township bills the patient’s insurance company, if they have insurance.   Hundreds of thousands of dollars are collected every year from ambulance billing and it seems that the Fire Director doesn’t want one penny to be missed.