Pro-Freedom Fanatic
AFAIK, they're firemen who specialize in giving first aid to victims of all sorts of nasty accidents.
Unlike regular paramedics, they're supposed to get down and dirty to get them out I guess.
You exist because we allow it and you will end because we demand it.
Gristknife
The FD might be first responders. In that case it makes sense for them to have paramedics, plus NYC's hospitals are mostly private whereas F Ds are public.
Charlie Tunoku is a lover and a fighter.
In LA, every firefighter is a paramedic of some flavor. Paramedic certification is mandatory. That's not an uncommon requirement.
Zzzzzzzzzz
In Illinois, the fire departments will pretty much all run paramedic units. There are private ambulance services, but if you call 911, it's the fire department paramedics who show up.
...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.
Lover of masks.
I live a block away from a fire station and they have an ambulance there (it is red) so I guess they have paramedics.
Please.
The usefulness of tv: In this way, Law And Order helped us understand american culture a bit better. ;-)
Gristknife
Well, it taught you about a quirk of an emergency response team in New York City, but yeah, I guess that's pretty interesting in its own way.
Try to bring it up in conversation though, that's a challenge.
Charlie Tunoku is a lover and a fighter.
You gotta get yourself some marble columns
Fascinating... The first time I saw a paramedic with an FDNY jacket in Law And Order, I assumed that it was just a different department with the same abbreviation, or that I had just misread it.
But then it showed up again, and I browsed the FDNY website - and sure enough, they do have paramedics.
And now I'm officially confused. Why on earth does a fire department provide paramedic services? Is that the usual way in the US? Or is it another one of those New York surprises, like their "supreme court" not being supreme at all?