In Chula Vista, firefighters and paramedics respond to low-priority 911 calls even though less than one percent of those calls require emergency medical services.
By not sending firefighters to those calls, the Chula Vista Fire Department believes it can respond to high-priority calls faster. The department is currently considering sending only ambulances to what are officially known as level three calls.
“When you look at surrounding fire departments, they don’t send a first responder on a level three call,” said Deputy Fire Chief Harry Muns. “So there’s other departments already not doing this and that’s what we’re looking at.”
National City and San Diego fire departments do not send firefighters to level three medical calls, Muns added.