FDNY EMS

Fire Department of New York Bureau of EMS (FDNY EMS)
Established	March 17, 1996
Staffing	Career
Strength	3,800 (as of 12/31/15)
Field divisions	5
Daily average dcheduled ALS tours	212
Daily average scheduled BLS tours	412
Haz-Tac Ambulances	39
Rescue Medic Units	11
Major Emergency Response Vehicles (MERV)	5
Mobile Respiratory Treatment Unit	3
WMD Unit	2
BLS/ALS
Annual call volume (2013)	1,309,811 incidents

The New York City Fire Department Bureau of Emergency Medical Services, also known as the FDNY EMS Command, or FDNY EMS, was established on March 17, 1996, following the merger of the New York City Fire Department and New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation's EMS division. FDNY EMS covers all five boroughs of New York City with EMT-B and Paramedic staffed ambulances.

Prior to March 17, 1996, municipal ambulances were operated by NYC*EMS under the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, a public benefit corporation, which dispatched both its own ambulances and hospital ambulances. On March 17, 1996, NYC*EMS merged with the New York City Fire Department, forming the Bureau of EMS. Employees of the newly formed bureau were considered FDNY employees and became eligible for promotion to firefighter within the department. As a result of the merger, the FDNY-Bureau of EMS became the largest fire department-based EMS system in the country. Under the NYC HHC, EMS members were classified as "uniformed service". When FDNY took over in 1996, they demoted the department to "civil service", in order to pay EMS workers less and give them less benefits, and made employees surrender the badges worn on their uniform shirts. Under the HHC, EMS workers had an option of going to school for a higher medical profession, such as nursing, for free, while receiving their normal salary. After the completion of schooling, there was a forgivable loan; if the employee completed three3 years of service to HHC in their new position (RN, PA, etc.), they would not be responsible for the costs. The FDNY did away with that program in 1996 in an effort to push people to become Firefighter rather than higher medical professionals.

FDNY EMS is responsible for the operation of all ambulances deployed in the New York City "911 System". 67% of the units in the 911 system are FDNY EMS ambulance crews while the remaining 33% of the 911 units are hospital-based ambulance crews known as Voluntary hospitals/Voluntary ambulances, which should not be confused with neighborhood Volunteer Ambulance Corps/Volunteers who operate independently as well as within the 911 system via a mutual aid program. FDNY EMS maintains and controls Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD), and telemetry (online medical control). FDNY EMS is also responsible for managing emergency medical care for all mass casualty incidents (MCI) in New York City.

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Wikipedia