More News

It could take twice as long for an ambulance and crew to arrive to treat and transport patients whose conditions appear to be non-life-threatening, under proposed revisions to Montgomery County's fire, rescue and emergency services master plan.

Increasing the response time goal from six to 12 minutes for "basic life support" calls — including unspecified illnesses, fractures, sprains and contusions — would allow more "emphasis on advanced life support" calls, including heart attacks, traumatic injuries and interrupted or stopped breathing, according to the Fire and Rescue Service's recommendations for updating the plan.

The updates call for reallocating limited resources to handle increased demand, officials said.

"This county is evolving into a more urban and suburban setting," Fire Chief Richard R. Bowers said during a public hearing on the proposal Monday night.

Bowers said the plan is designed to provide "what the community needs in protection, education and response."

Although the average response time is expected to remain longer in rural areas, response times for ambulance and fire calls there are expected to improve.

Behind those changes are proposals for expanding fire and rescue stations and reconfiguring the ways fire and rescue personnel are assigned to trucks and ambulances.

A shortage of paramedics trained to provide all advanced life support services already has moved the Fire and Rescue Service to assign available paramedics across more ambulances and firetrucks.

Under the proposal, instead of assigning two paramedics to ALS ambulances, one paramedic and a less-highly trained emergency medical technician would be assigned.

A second paramedic, also trained as a firefighter, would arrive on a firetruck.

Based on data, in fewer than one of 10 calls would the second paramedic stay to accompany the patient to the hospital, fire and rescue officials say. The firetruck would return to service immediately, in most cases with the paramedic aboard.

Already paramedic-firefighters are riding as the fourth man or woman on 21 of 34 fire engines in the county and one of 15 ladder trucks. Their addition is part of the county's plan to increase all firetruck crews from three to four.

The longer response time goal could reduce traffic accidents by easing the pressure to use sirens and lights to arrive more quickly, the report said.

The Fire and Rescue master plan should incorporate patient "outcome measures," such as how many lived to be discharged from the hospital, said Sheldon Fishman, chairman of the Mid-County Citizens Advisory Board, who otherwise praised the plan.

The updated proposal includes establishing an interim fire station at the Public Service Training Academy to serve the Travilah, Traville, Fallsgrove areas outside Rockville until a permanent station to serve that area is built in about four years.

It also calls for finding ways to fix gaps in the ability to respond within six minutes in the Twinbrook, White Flint and Grosvenor Park areas of Rockville and North Bethesda, particularly in the area where Rockville Pike intersects with Strathmore Avenue and Tuckerman Lane.

The plan must be approved by County Executive Isiah Leggett, who has been briefed on it, and the County Council, which would receive it for action once Leggett has backed it.

The update was ordered by the County Council as part of its approval of restructuring the Fire and Rescue career and volunteer staff under a single chief. It was delayed slightly when the first chief, Thomas W. Carr Jr., left for a new job in Charlestown, S.C., last year.

A comprehensive review of the plan is slated for next year.