By Andrew de Souza

Fire department to lose EMT licensees

Aug 15, 2011 | 11:35 AM

Prince Albert Fire Fighters stand to lose their emergency medical technician certification because funding has been cut.

About 30 fire fighters have the certification, which allows them to perform certain duties above the first responder designation, including transporting victims to hospital, the administration of certain drugs and performing some medical procedures.

In 2009, the province announced they would cut funding for the licensing and the city refused to pick up the annual renewal cost of about $9,000.

Deputy chief Joe Zatylny said it doesn’t mean a significant loss for residents in the area since firefighters essentially don’t use those skills on a day-to-day basis.

“The licensing says you can practice your EMT skills in the province,” he said. “Right now, the skills from EMT, we do not utilize at car accidents or when we back up EMS.”

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What it does mean is that there will be 30 less licensed individuals to respond in emergencies should they be needed.

Individual firefighters can still maintain their own licensing but it would be an out-of-pocket expense.
Zatylny said the department would be maintaining fire fighter’s first responder designation.

adesouza@panow.com