ARGENTINA COPPER

SAO PAULO COPPER COMPACT

Throughout Europe and South America, police use compact size vehicles which are used mostly for transportation rather than high speed pursuits and fast track driving. They have vans for hauling both prisoners and extra coppers. We even spotted coppers in Argentina hitch hiking–and gave them a ride.

A GUARDIAN reader told us it costs between $900 and $1600 to paint the special blend metallic blue (it just looks black) on the trunk and hoods of the big old Ford Crown Vics. Assistant Chief Pat Braddock tells us it is only a mere $600 per unit and they already stopped painting the surplus Crown Vics all white prior to surplus sales.

We talked to the chief about the future of the fleet and he told the GUARDIAN we can expect to see some smaller rigs being piloted by coppers in lieu of the big rig Crown Vics. He also said the day may come when the cars are a single solid color with the usual decals on the doors, etc.

“Not only are the smaller units cheaper to operate, I can get them for about $6,000 less and save around $120,000 on a typical purchase of 20 vehicles,” said Masterson.

We noted some of the newer vehicles already are able to use E-85 flex fuel, but that corn whiskey blend is probably not going to prove very cost effective after studies are completed which factor in all the costs.

Boise firefighters have been quietly adding trained paramedics to their ranks for a couple years. On the face of it, a way to save lives and generally improve the level of emergency service to citizens.

Meanwhile, during the same period Ada County Emergency Medical Services lost a court battle with Kuna and other fire departments over a draconian ordinance aimed at making the County EMS the supreme authority and sole provider of ambulance service.

The court ruling opened the door for the dire departments to provide “transport” for victims of heart attacks, stroke, accident, and injury–a great revenue source for doctors and hospitals. That’s why there are so many helicopters flying around. There is a lot of money to be made treating misery and there is money to be made hauling the miserable.

Think of sick and injured as a commodity–something that can be bought, sold, or traded.

Boise firefighters union is always working on expanding the talent–and pay– of its members. Here is an entry from their website:

“EMS COMMITTEE–
Some members of the committee made a site visit to Salem, Oregon to view their operations and contract with Rural Metro. We were able to ask and learn a lot about the public private partnership. It was very encouraging. We will be looking at many different companies and styles. We will continue to gather data and prepare a report for chief Doan. If you have any ideas or thoughts contact a Committee member.”

The GUARDIAN has contacted a couple of Boise City Councilors and they claim they haven’t really heard much about any dealings with “RURAL METRO.” A couple of sources who appear to be either Ada and/or Canyon Paramedics have tipped the GUARDIAN about Rural Metro, a Scottsdale, Arizona company and claim the firm is meeting (dealing?) with both Boise and Nampa officials in an effort to profit by hauling patients initially treated by the local firefighters–in lieu of the County EMS ambulances.

We figure Boise won’t be able to justify buying a fleet of ambulances, but if they can offer up a certain number of patients each month, RURAL METRO will make the investment to have exclusive rights to profit from Boise’s sick and injured. It may take legislative changes to make it happen, but the State EMS director is the wife of a Boise firefighter union member, so there will probably be some dinner conversations.

Such a move would threaten the existence of the Ada County EMS agency because they make most of their money off Boise residents–there are more of them. The unincorporated portions of the county–much of it Federal land–has no tax base, but people still get in accidents and suffer emergencies there.

Everyone who lives in Boise or any of the other cities also lives in Ada County and they will have to pay for a county ambulance service they don’t use–like they pay for the sheriff’s patrol, but all calls are handled by the city police.

Of course, if Rural Metro controlled the ambulance system in the cities, they could go anywhere as a private company. A private ambulance service might not be a BAD idea, but it has to be an open bidding process, not an insider trade as Boise is wont to do. If Boise can offer enough patients, you can bet someone will pay (franchise fee) to have the rights to their cash. Ada County Commishes should look Rural Metro and others before they get run out of business.

The CALDWELL GUARDIAN has a take on the AMBULANCE ISSUE.
More on RURAL METRO.
Idaho EMS MEETING MINUTES.

A motorist in Boise found a unique way to administer the Heimlich maneuver–she crashed head-on into another vehicle Thursday and deployed the airbag on herself.

KTVB news reported, the female driver of the truck was headed eastbound on Overland at Hummel Dr. when she began to choke of a piece of food. She pulled into the turn lane and started to turn left at Hummel Road when she collided with the van. She told police that the impact of the air bag dislodged the food from her throat.

A recent crash incident didn’t take them beyond the front door of Station 8 on Overland Road…in fact the crash WAS the front door!

Seems the first responder heroes were showing their wares to a group of children visiting the station over the July 4th weekend. Part of the tour included a peek inside the storage cabinets on the side of the engine where life saving equipment is stored.

Firefighters showed the youngsters how the doors on the storage bins open upward and no doubt offered advice on safety as well.

Later, when the alarm sounded for an emergency call, the guys on “C shift” jumped on Engine 8 to respond. They donned their helmets and headsets so they could communicate over the noise of the siren and engine and rushed out of the station.

They didn’t get far because someone forgot to close the door on the sturdy equipment bin. The metal door was so sturdy that when the now 12 foot wide fire engine went through the 10 foot door it took out the overhead door track, an entire row of concrete blocks, and the outside face of the building.

Looks like the repairs will be about $4,000-5,000. One oldtimer noted it was the third time in 15 years he knew of the door being smacked by a first responder hero.
Command staff told the GUARDIAN there plans afoot to sell station 8 and build a new one.

As much as it gets whacked by fire engines they probably NEED a new station, however the appraisal likely will be off a bit.

He is correct and the GUARDIAN has met with new fire chief Dennis Doan to discuss a more reasonable approach. We have suggested a reallocation of fire personnel and some sort of fire department “medical cars” to prevent sending half million dollar rigs designed to fight fire tearing all over town.

The reason the ladder responded on this call was because the normal response vehicle–#5 engine–was probably already out on another medical call. Our plan would require some additional firefighters, but it would be much more efficient use of staff and equipment in the long run.

A rookie firefighter starts out at $40,752 a year and tops out at $59,172. A captain–the “crew boss” on a three person fire engine–makes $66,072 and the battalion chiefs who are shift commanders of about 7 stations make $73,044. There are only two or three firefighter ranks–chief and deputy chief–that are not union positions.

If the GUARDIAN could give the chief its two cents worth just twice, he would make an even $100, 000. As it is, he checks in with an annual salary of $99,999.96.

The attached charts were provided by Team Dave staffers at the mayor’s office. They show benefits packages of the Fire, Police, and general city employees–who pretty much have to all use the same doctors, hospitals and pharmacies available in Boise.

We are all aware the cops and firemen are heroes and city workers are underpaid.

FIRE WAGES Download file
FIRE BENEFITS Download file
POLICE BENEFITS Download file
CITY WORKER BENEFITS Download file

The county had previously passed ordinance #647 which gave the Ada County EMS sole rights to establish the rules for anyone else providing such services. Judge Sticklen overturned that ordinance.

The original GUARDIAN STORY ran in December 2006.

In a nut shell the court ruled that Ada County has no statutory basis for attempting to limit or regulate any fire district in the provision of EMS services. Ordinance
# 647 outlined many stipulations the County was trying to enforce within its borders many of which are the responsibility of the State Department of Health and
Welfare, EMS Bureau.

To accommodate new growth in the northwest part of the city they are aiming to build a new station somewhere along Hill Road. Seems there is a fair amount of resistance–some folks don’t want to hear sirens screaming all the time.

Meanwhile, the GUARDIAN got word that 70% of the calls for the engine located at Station 9 on Sycamore St. just off W. State are within half a mile of the station and the department is considering relocating the engine company to the new station.

Seems odd to us that a well located engine company is being moved to accommodate growth at the expense of quick service to folks who have paid taxes for their neighborhood station for over 30 years.

They won’t be totally without service because the BFD plans to remodel the station and place a ladder truck on duty. Our concern is that the vast majority of calls for emergency service are MEDICAL in nature and it simply doesn’t make much sense to send a bulky–and costly–ladder truck.

The other alternative is to send the engine from the new location that is farther away from its current home. Another case of juggling services and budget to take care of growth at the expense of long time residents.

BFD had previously purchased land for a station on Gary Lane, but like many of their “forward looking” real estate deals they don’t want to use the parcel.

A public meeting is set for February 22 in the Cynthia Mann Elementary School library at 6pm. Prior meetings and hearings have been mostly negative about the proposed station location.

The GUARDIAN recently got the following reader query which we forward on to Ada County regarding ambulance coverage in what used to be the Whitney Fire District, but is now part of Boise City.

“Why does Ada County EMS no longer have an ambulance covering the south end of town? I was a bit disturbed to find out we would be waiting for an ambulance to come from Meridian, or even St. Als. Maybe we could get this topic listed?”

Here is the official answer:

“Ada County has not cut back ambulance service in southern Ada County. Just as in the past, the Paramedics Department continues to schedule and designate a specific ambulance unit to handle emergency calls that are reported in that section of the county.

The ambulance assigned to cover that area has been relocated to the St. Luke’s Meridian facility on Eagle Road. This move was prompted by a letter we received from Whitney Fire officials in December requesting we vacate the property by January 15th. We complied with their request and temporarily relocated to the St. Luke’s Eagle Road facility, which is 3.5 miles away from the previous Whitney location.

In an effort to ensure this temporary relocation does not adversely impact ambulance response times and the residents in the area, the department is now covering the area with roving ambulances — which is a common service delivery method in other ambulance systems. The term roving does not necessarily mean the ambulance is constantly in motion; rather, the Paramedic crew often parks near locations that seem to generate the most emergency calls in southern Ada County. The St. Luke’s Eagle Road facility, at this point, basically serves as a supply storage/restocking hub for this crew.

While this temporary delivery approach is not adversely impacting response times, we realize some people get a sense of security from knowing they have a permanent ambulance station in their neighborhood. To that end, Director Hagen is continuing to search for a more permanent location within southern Ada County and hopes to be able to identify such a location in the very near future.”

The GUARDIAN boils all this down to mean: they got kicked out of the Overland Road station and also backed out of an agreement to pay $372,000 as the EMS share of a new fire station. They are still looking for a home.

But if roving and parking are OK and response times are not impacted, why look for a new home?

One program–we don’t know if any of the locals are going for it or not–has a cutsie name of “Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response” (SAFER)program.