First responders in danger: unions

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/07/2019 (1887 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Union leaders representing the city’s firefighters and paramedics claim police are diverting dangerous 911 calls to them and they fear it’s just a matter of time before “a firefighter is injured or killed.”

Alex Forrest, president of United Firefighters of Winnipeg, and Ryan Woiden, president of Manitoba Government and General Employees Union Local 911, which represents EMS, ambulance-based paramedics, said despite repeated police denials, paramedics, firefighters and firefighter/paramedics are being sent to calls on a pretext of a medical or fire emergency when it’s actually a criminal situation.

“They’re denying it but we have the evidence. We have dozens of examples almost every week of us being sent on calls that are strictly police calls,” Forrest said. “We understand that sometimes there is going to be a medical emergency with a police call but if someone is committing a criminal act, you shouldn’t be sending firefighters there to hold the fort. They should be called in after police arrive and have secured the scene.”

MGEU president Michelle Gawronsky said the evidence shows paramedics are being used as substitutes for police, adding that places the safety of paramedics at risk and it can’t be allowed to continue.

“The significant demand on police resources, and the increasingly strained availability for police response, is putting our paramedics at undue risk when police cannot attend,” Gawronsky said. “This is a situation that needs to be addressed by the WRHA and the city to ensure sufficient emergency resources are in place to meet the demand.”

The union leaders were responding to data obtained by the Free Press through a freedom of information request that shows the number of 911 calls diverted from police to the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service has increased between 2017 and 2019.

“When calls are triaged over (diverted) to WFPS, it’s for one of two reasons: an actual medical reason, or there’s a police component to it. But anytime there is a police component, a police event has already been generated before it actually gets triaged over.”– Stacey Cann, supervisor of communications for the WPS

The data shows that the first six months of 2019 saw an average 10 per cent increase in the number of diverted calls from 911 compared to the same period in 2017.

On a month-to-month comparison, the number of diverted calls in June of this year had increased 16.8 per cent compared to June 2017, and there was a 12.5 per cent increase in March.

But an official with the Winnipeg Police Service said the rising number of incidents of violence is the result of the meth crisis that is affecting all first responders, adding that police are not knowingly sending firefighters and paramedics to do their jobs.

“We would never blindly send over a call without us generating one first knowing that police have to respond,” Stacey Cann, supervisor of communications for the WPS, said. “When calls are triaged over (diverted) to WFPS, it’s for one of two reasons: an actual medical reason, or there’s a police component to it. But anytime there is a police component, a police event has already been generated before it actually gets triaged over.”

Cann said the increasingly violent nature of Winnipeg streets poses a threat to front-line police as well as firefighters and paramedics.

“Any increase in violence we’re seeing, because there generally is a medical component to it, (firefighters and paramedics) are going to feel an impact as well as us. These are joint calls. They’re not individual calls,” Cann said. “We would never, for example, send over an event that has a police component, like a stabbing, over to them without us triaging it first and making sure we have an event generated for police to attend.”

Co-incidentally, WPS chief Danny Smyth circulated a memo to all WPS members on Tuesday, recognizing the increasing dangerous nature of their work and number of calls.

“Today I am tired and frustrated by what I see going on around us… I recognize that you are all doing your best to hold the line and keep our community safe. I recognize that you are beginning to tire and the stress of this environment is taking a toll on our community and the well-being of our members,” Smyth said.

Forrest said he understands the pressure front-line police are under, adding however police administration is attempting to mitigate the situation by shifting the workload to firefighters and paramedics.

“If this policy continues, I fear a firefighter will be injured or killed,” Forrest said.

Woiden said that after several similar incidents involving EMS paramedics earlier this year, MGEU Local 911 demanded that their members be provided what he called “police notes” on their calls, which would allow paramedics to determine the nature of the calls.

“For a lot of the calls, they were clearly criminal or violent acts and our members were not prepared to respond until the police had the matter under control and we staged,” Woiden said, explaining that paramedics declined to attend until it was safe, as outlined in the WFPS hostile staging policy.

Woiden said that exchange of information lasted from April to mid-June when, without explanation, it stopped.

Cann said the police continue to provide WFPS with relevant information on every diverted call, adding she can’t explain what the WFPS dispatch services does with the information.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca