Ambulance Report Given by PRNC Board Member Pat Pope at the May 2010 Board Meeting.
On Friday, April 30th, I spoke to Doug Tripp from Councilman Smith’s office. As of that moment, here is the status (but nothing is set in concrete yet).

In the Fiscal Year starting on July 1, 2010, the LAFD is not scheduling any changes to the BLS ambulance deployment. The 10 least busy BLS ambulances in the city will remain in place. Just like today, they will be “Browned Out” on a rotating basis with other stations in the city.

Currently, there are 3 Geographical Fire Divisions in Los Angeles. Roughly, Division 1 is downtown and the west side, Division 2 is South LA and the harbor, Division 3 is the valley. Each Division is commanded by an Assistant (Division) Chief. There are three platoons (A, B, and C) that rotate 24 hour shifts. So, today there could be 9 Division Chiefs and 9 Staff Assistants. There are some vacant positions, covered by overtime today.

There are 16 geographical battalions in Los Angeles with a Battalion Chief in command with a Staff Assistant. We live in Battalion 15’s area. Today, there could be 48 Battalion Chiefs and 48 Staff Assistants (16 times 3 shifts). Some of those positions are vacant and today are covered by a combination of overtime and brown outs. Each of those battalions also has an EMS Captain (48 positions). The EMS Captain supervises the ambulances in the battalion. Some of those positions are vacant, and are covered by overtime or brown outs today.

As of right now, the mayor’s proposed budget calls for the Modified Coverage Plan (MCP) for FY 2010-2011 to reduce to Division Chiefs to 2 on a rotating basis. The current budget eliminates the Division Chief’s Staff Assistants.

As of right now, the proposed 2010-2011 budget reduces the number of EMS Captains by 9. That means each 24 hour shift will have 3 less EMS Captains in Los Angeles. There would be no reduction in Battalion Chiefs or their Staff Assistants. LAFD Video on the importance of Staff Assistants.

There are other reductions in the budget that appear to have already been factored before the decision to keep the ambulances was made.

Factors that could change this:

· The Division Chiefs could convince the city that they need Staff Assistants and/or that only 2 Division Chiefs per shift is unworkable.

· Second, some Council members, including Greig Smith, feel that the mayor’s total budget outlook is too rosy. They feel that the mayor is factoring in increased revenue that is speculative. So, the whole budget will be tweaked by June 30th.

· Third, there will be some mid-year corrections to the budget in late 2010. If the city’s revenue stays at the current depressed level, more reductions are possible.

So, we appear to have won our case to keep ambulances for now, but changes are still very possible and we have to keep on our toes for the whole year, and next year too.