Fall River paramedics have signed a three-year contract which Mayor Jasiel Correia says, is the first step to eventually merging the fire and EMS departments.
“We are very pleased with the cooperation that we received from EMS regarding the development and ultimate approval of the contract,” says City Administrator Cathy Ann Viveiros. “This is allowing the city to move one step closer to the creation of a dual paramedic/firefighter position and from the very beginning this dual role was seen as a key step in the city’s ability to absorb the SAFER funded positions currently on the fire side.”
The fire department was awarded a $2.06 million SAFER grant that added 10 new firefighters under former Mayor Sam Sutter in July 2015. The grant expires the end of June 2018.
At the beginning of the grant, Viveiros said the firefighters union agreed that the new recruits would earn an EMT basic certification within one year as condition of their employment.
The short-term goal is to have the ability to assign the EMT basic certified firefighters on city rescue trucks after an available shift is offered to EMS staff.
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