Fire Chief to Deploy 11 More Ambulances

A controversial plan by the fire chief to reassign firefighters to ambulance duty will begin Sunday after a last-ditch effort by two Los Angeles City Council members to halt the plan ran aground Friday.

Council members Richard Alarcon and Paul Koretz introduced a motion asking Fire Chief Brian Cummings to delay re-deploying firefighters from 22 light force truck companies to ambulances, but they were met with concerns from colleagues that it was not enough of an emergency to justify hearing it last minute at Friday's meeting.

The council is expected to wait until next Tuesday to consider a reintroduced motion requesting that Cummings pull back from his plan.

Council President Herb Wesson suggested having the fire chief report to the City Council at that meeting.

"I believe we put this individual in charge to run the fire department, and we should try to support him when we can," Wesson said.

In cases of emergencies, the council can decide to hear "urgency motions," but some members said Friday there had been opportunities at previous fire commission and council meetings to address the issue.

In their motion that was rushed out to the floor Friday, Alarcon and Koretz cited concerns that the plan would result in "increased risk" to the safety of firefighters and the public.

Cummings said last month his plan would add 11 more ambulances to better match the department's resources to the 85 percent of calls that are medical- related, while leaving trucks and engines free to respond to fires.

But a firefighter union and an association of fire chiefs have come out against the plan, which is unusual, because the two groups "are not often on the same sides of issues, especially during these last few years of budget cuts," according to the motion.

The motion also cited a letter from the two groups in which they say the safety of the public and firefighters "has never been placed in a more compromising position than the one we find ourselves in now."

At this morning's Personnel and Animal Welfare Committee meeting, Alarcon also proposed taking $1.3 million from the city's $200 million reserve to pay for more fire employees, but also urged the fire chief to rethink his plan.

"I'll also beg the fire department, the chief in particular, to not implement this on Cinco de Mayo," he said.

"Give us a chance to work through this budget to get us these additional positions, rather than cutting fire resources which are going to be less safe for those 22 fire companies," he said.

The special committee meeting was called Friday to discuss a motion introduced by Councilman Paul Koretz to determine whether the chief had the authority to implement the plan without engaging in collective bargaining with the firefighters union.