D.C. Juggles to Improve Services Firefighters, EMS Move to Where They're Needed By Petula Dvorak Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, April 6, 2000; Page J07 Some years ago, when officials sat down with stacks of important statistics, reams of paper and table-sized maps to decide which neighborhoods would get ambulances, it made perfect sense that track 62.2, home to only 50 people, was not on a high-priority list. But that was only on paper. During the day, that census track, which encompasses the National Mall, hosts about 1 million people and is the District's busiest census track for emergency medical calls. The District's ambulances always had been stationed in firehouses based on census populations rather than need, said Interim Fire Chief Thomas Tippett. As soon as he was named interim chief last fall, Tippett asked his staff to develop charts and graphs and fill more reams of paper. But he wanted them to study the number of medical calls for an area, not simply its population. After looking at the approximately 120,000 medical calls that firefighters and emergency medical teams responded to in 1999, fire officials pulled out the maps again and redrew their boundaries. On March 26, the department launched a massive redeployment of the District's ambulances. Studying resource allocation showed a haphazard placement of ambulances that helped account for some of the poor response times the department has been battling, Tippett said. For example, Ward 5 had 13 percent of the emergency calls in 1999, but only 6 percent of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) resources were stationed there. Engine 10's firehouse, on Florida Avenue, is North America's busiest station, yet it had no EMS unit, Tippett said. "Then you have a section like Ward 3, where there is not a high demand, but the calls there are of the most serious nature," he said. Geography was not the only factor. Time showed some surprises as well. Throughout the District, 911 calls to fire and EMS tapered off from midnight until 6 a.m., according to 1999 figures. Still, firehouses were staffed with 24-hour crews that tried to pass the time while the city slept. However, two nights a week--Friday and Saturday--those same crews could not keep up with the volume of calls from midnight to 6 a.m., Tippett said. To avoid the fit-and-start coverage that left crews exhausted or bored, fire officials abandoned the model that kept 36 units available 24 hours a day. Now, just 22 units will always be available. There will be 11 advanced life support (ALS) units, 10 basic life support units and one ALS speciality unit, all staffed in 12-hour shifts, Tippett said. That provides 14 units on staggered shifts to match demand. Those units are divided into "power shifts" from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; 1 p.m. to 1 a.m.; 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Those power shifts also are geographically flexible. A few can be added for big events at the Mall or supplement a station house that has depleted its 24-hour resources, Tippett said. District Ambulances This week, D.C. Interim Fire Chief Thomas Tippet launched a reallocation of the District's ambulances -- a first step in a series of planned changes aimed at improving response times of the city's Fire and Emergency Medical System. Ambulatory resources are divided into four shifts. The 24 Hour shift refers to units that are on-call in their ward at all times. Power shifts operate at different times of day and can be posted in areas throughout a ward that typically receive a high volume of emergency calls. BLS: Basic Life Support Transport unit, staffed with one EMT, one paramedic. WARD 1 24-Hour One ALS Transport unit One BLS Transport unit Power I shift One ALS Transport unit Power II shift One BLS Transport unit WARD 2 24-Hour One Paramedic engine One ALS Transport unit One BLS Transport unit Power I shift Three BLS Transport units Power II shift Two BLS Transport units Power III shift One ALS Transport unit One ALS non-transport unit WARD 3 24-Hour One ALS Transport unit One BLS Transport unit WARD 4 24-Hour One Paramedic engine One ALS Transport unit One BLS Transport unit Power I shift One BLS Transport unit ALS: Advanced Life Support Transport unit, staffed with two paramedics. WARD 5 24-Hour One Paramedic engine One ALS non-transport unit Three BLS Transport units WARD 6 24-Hour Three ALS Transport units One BLS Transport unit Power I shift One BLS Transport unit Power II shift One BLS Transport unit WARD 7 24-Hour Two ALS Transport units One BLS Transport unit Power I shift One BLS Transport unit Power II shift One ALS Transport unit One BLS Transport unit WARD 8 24-Hour One Paramedic engine One ALS Transport unit Two BLS Transport units Power I shift One BLS Transport unit © Copyright 2000 The Washington Post Company