Photo by Eric Purcell
Just what is up with the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department’s fleet of emergency vehicles? The District will pay $184,000 to a consulting firma on a comprehensive audit of the fleet, following months of complaints about ambulances being frequently out of service, fire engines not being accounted for, and other lapses.
The fire department hired the D.C.-based consultant BDA Global to lead the 60-day survey, which is intended to come up with a thorough list of the agency’s equipment, implement a maintenance schedule, and offer guidance on management practices. The department, and its chief, Kenneth Ellerbe, have come under heavy criticism this year following a series of incidents such as March scene in which no city ambulances were available to respond to a D.C. police officer injured in a traffic accident; the officer was transported by an ambulance from Prince George’s County.
And officials who oversee the fire department have faulted its own accounting of its fleet. Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), who runs the D.C. Council’s Judiciary and Public Safety Committee, says the independent audit is long overdue.
“I wish it had been done last February,” he says in a phone interview. “I don’t care what it costs. This has got to get done. I mean, I do care what it costs.”
Wells’ committee last month rejected a fleet redeployment plan proposed by Ellerbe that would reposition 14 ambulances staffed by “single role” EMTs and paramedics from shifts after midnight to between 1 p.m and 7 p.m. Other D.C. Council members are even more overt in their displeasure with the fire department. Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) recently called on Ellerbe to step down. But Mayor Vince Gray’s administration says the embattled fire chief will not be getting the boot anytime soon, saying that the department’s problems predate Ellerbe’s appointment in January 2011.
Meanwhile, the Fire and EMS Department also said this week that it is now contracting with two private ambulance companies to supplement its fleet at special events such as Washington Nationals games and Verizon Center events.
