SPOKANE, Wash. – The Spokane Fire Department will now have full-time paramedic staffing at all of its fire stations, the SFD announced Wednesday.
“The overwhelming majority of emergencies that we respond to involve a medical nature and the complexity of those incidents are ever-increasing,” Spokane Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer said in a statement.
Of the 40,304 emergency calls made in the city in 2017, 32,047 of them were medically related.
“Currently our life-threatening incidents year-to-date are 12 percent last years, and the data indicates that the trend is showing no sign of decreasing,” Schaeffer said.
As of Wednesday, all 16 fire stations within city limits are staffed with paramedics 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Of the 365 SFD firefighters, 98 are paramedics. All the firefighters are at least Emergency Medical Technician certified.
