Comparison of BCAS and Vancouver Fire call types.

Image Source: http://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/illustration/icon-set-emergency-services-royalty-free-illustration/165723541

In my previous post, which can be found here. I evaluated the cost structure differences between Vancouver Fire and BC Ambulance (division of BCEHS) operations in Vancouver.

Here I am following up with a comparison of the breakdown of the types of calls Ambulance and Fire responds to. In my previous post, I mentioned that Vancouver Fire responds to nearly 50% of all Ambulances' calls and commented that given the much higher cost per call for Vancouver Fire that this may be a miss appropriation of public funds, as BCAS may be able to provide the same service for cheaper if they beefed up their resources.

Of course, the issue becomes. What if, the majority of calls which Vancouver Fire responds to are types of calls in which their special skills and training come into play adding a benefit over an additional ambulance crew. For example, if most of these calls are HAZMAT, Rescue, MVA (Motor vehicle Accident), or Fire (Burns). Then perhaps this high rate of call out is justified!

As promised, here is the breakdown of the calls received by BCAS in 2014 in Vancouver and corresponding Fire response based off of call category.

In the above bar chart (organized by highest to lowest frequencies of BCAS calls) we witness that the top five calls which BCAS responds to are for

1.  Sick (12,393 calls)
2. Unconcious (6107 calls)
3. Psychiatric (4890 calls)
4. Breathing Problems (3975 calls)
5. Chest pain. (3672 calls)

At the same time the top give calls which Vancouver Fire responds to most are: 

1. Sick (4157 calls)
2. Unconcious (4015 calls)
3. Breathing problems (3975 calls)
4. Chest pain (3508 calls)
5. Falls (2233 calls)

The part that I find most interesting about this, is that (as far as I know as an observer!) there is no added benefit of special skills from Fire in the response of these calls over having an additional paramedic crew respond.

Next, let's look at how many of BC Ambulances calls Vancouver responds to as a percent by call category. 

Right off the start - Fire responds to 100% of BC Ambulances HAZMAT calls. Just as I would have expected, the use of their specialized skill set to assist and aid in this situation. 

Next down, Fire also responds to 100% of breathing problems, 99% of Cardiac arrests, and 96% of chest pain. For these calls, I am struggling to understand what extra benefit Fire would provide over an extra ambulance crew (Any insight would be appreciated! as hopefully there is a rational)

What I find interesting is the other side where Fire only responds to 6% of the MVA's which Ambulance responds to (I am assuming that Ambulance only responds to the MVA's which are serious enough to justify). This I find interesting because if the accident is serious enough for Ambulance, might there be a need for Fire in this case as well?

This last graph is Ambulance and Fire response by call severity. from Alpha to Omega, which I understand is most serious to least serious. 

My (updated) understanding is that these call severities, in order from most severe to least, go Echo, Delta, Charlie Bravo, Alpha, Omega. Given this call ordering, our fire response perfectly lines up with the frequency of Fire response, with Fire responding to nearly all Echo and Delta calls and showing up with decreasing frequency as we move down the call severity. 

What are your thoughts on all of this? Feel free to comment below.

EDIT: A previous version had the order of call severities reversed, Thank you for bringing this to my attention in order to correct.