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Memo�andu�z <br />TO: City Council <br />John Godwin, City Manager <br />FROM: Larry Wright, Fire Chief <br />SUBJECT: Fire Department Responses <br />DATE: June 10, 2013 <br />BACKGROUND: The Fire Department was requested to present to the City Council response to <br />incidents in the City of Paris and Lamar County. The response criteria for each response and <br />what apparatus responds depend on the type of incident. Questions have been brought up in the <br />past as to why certain apparatus respond and if there is a more economical way to handle <br />responses especially medical responses. <br />STATUS OF ISSUE: Currently the Fire Department is an "all hazard" response team. Along <br />with fire related calls, the Fire Department responds on certain medical calls to augment the <br />EMS crew with manpower. In some circumstances in an EMS overload, the fire crews would <br />arrive first and render care until such time as EMS can arrive. The Fire Department is considered <br />by Texas Department of Health and Human Services as a"first responder" organization and we <br />are licensed that way. With regard to response, the Fire Department has to be an integral team. <br />Where one goes, the whole crew must go. It is not unlikely that a crew will go from a call on one <br />side of town to another call on the other side of town back to back. That it is why it is important <br />that the whole crew keep its integrity at all times. When responding to medical calls, even though <br />it may require only two people of that crew to assist, the potential to respond to a fire call from <br />that medical call is always there, thus breaking a crew up is potentially dangerous. The response <br />used by Paris Fire Department is the norm for all Fire Departments. <br />BUDGET: N/A <br />RECOMMENDATION: N/A <br />:t <br />