EMS Call Volume Compared to Fire Service Call Volume

Typically, only about 6% of all emergency calls coming into the LAPD PSAP are requests for emergency medical services or reports of a structural fire (LAFD, 1992). These calls are forwarded, without putting the caller on hold, to the Los Angeles City Fire Department for answering. No calls are lost in this process. Under normal circumstances calls coming to the LA City Fire Department are about 75% EMS related. Only about 3% of the callers are reporting a structural fire. Interestingly, the percentage of EMS and structural fire calls of total LAPD PSAP call volume remained about the same as it is a typical day, increasing only 2% (LAFD, 1992). However, the typical distribution of EMS and structural fire calls reversed itself dramatically. Graph 11 and Table 11 show just how dramatic this change was. On Thursday, calls reporting structural fires literally increased by thousands of percentage points over the average days' volume (LAFD, 1992). This is in sharp contrast to a more modest but significant increase of 37% in EMS calls (Table 12). On this day structural fire calls represented 67% of the total volume vs. 21 % for EMS calls (the remaining II% was "other"). It may be that many of the fire related calls are multiple reportings of the same event. Most EMS calls probably represented a single occurrence. Normally 23 LA Fire Service dispatchers work on a twenty-four hour shift. Eleven are on the dispatch floor at any one time. When calls began to come in at a frantic pace, the shift was doubled (Eisner, 1992). Typically, LA Fire Service operators use a priority dispatch system to triage medical calls and provide pre-arrival instructions. Management instituted an emergency triage system requiring fewer questions during the civil disturbance. Pre-arrival instructions were not given. The large number of inquiries to telephone company computers to determine the address of the caller slowed down the computer's response. Under normal conditions, a dispatcher calls an abandoned call back to determine if there is an emergency. This procedure was not followed by dispatch during the civil disturbance. Emergency medical calls peaked at the same time as structural fire calls, but did not taper off as quickly (Graph 12). Graph I compares EMS calls with the number of injuries and deaths by day. Interestingly they also both peaked at the same point. Again, the calls drop off much more slowly than the number of injuries and deaths. It is difficult to account for these patterns without a tape review of the calls. However, the latter data suggests that requests for EMS were occurring that were not injury related. As discussed elsewhere in the report, the local primary health care system had collapsed; community physicians offices and clinics were not open. The only option was to call 9-1-1 for medical care.

Medical Care for the Injured

Continue to The Emergency Medical Services Field Response

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