FD Proposes Response Change

The Independence (Kan.) fire department has proposed changing its response policy to long-term care facilities and nursing homes, no longer handling anything but Priority 1 incidents. Other incidents would be handled soley by ambulance provider AMR, eliminating at least 1,000 incidents per year. Officials said only about 5% of 1,200 total incidents are life-threatening emergencies. The FD is now handling about 13,354 incidents a year officials said, and response times have crept up slow from 5 minutes to 5-1/2 minutes. Read the story and see if all the statistics are there to make a case for the change.