Tommy Wells. Photo by Amber Wilkie

A D.C. Council committee chaired by Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) will likely reject a plan from fire chief Kenneth B. Ellerbe to redeploy some ambulances from overnight to daytime hours.

The FEMS Redeployment Resolution of 2013 proposed to redeploy 14 ambulances staffed by “single role” EMTs and paramedics from after midnight to between 1 p.m and 7 p.m. when, the plan claimed, the call load for EMTs is highest.

But in a report prepared by Wells to the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, the councilmember says the Fire and EMS Department has “failed to produce evidence or documentation supporting the number of ambulances, it says are needed, to provide timely medical care during the peak demand times of service.”

Wells, the chair of the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee, went on to criticize the department for its “inability to appropriately manage its workforce needs” and failure “to hire, internally train, or effectively retain paramedics.” He also said the department is operating “with an overextended overtime budget, unfilled vacancies, and decreased paramedic staff levels.”

The mayoral hopeful said the department’s fleet management is in “disarray,” as 164 fully funded positions were vacant as of May 2013.

The International Association of Fire Fighters Local 36, which represents most of the department’s firefighters, released a statement praising Wells for rejecting the plan.

“Our department has been severely mismanaged and the proposed redeployment plan would only exasperate our current shortfalls of equipment and personnel,” union president Ed Smith said.

Wells said in the report that the committee does not oppose a redeployment plan. “The Committee opposes moving forward with a plan that has been formed without critical information about the Department’s current capacity for service, and the District’s current need for emergency medical services,” he continued.

The committee will vote on the plan at 2 p.m. today.