Winnipeg, MB - The City of Winnipeg is releasing the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service (WFPS) unit availability time reports. Reports are now available online for calendar years 2015 and 2016. Moving forward, additional reports will be made available online annually.
Data within the reports are compiled and presented on a yearly basis, detailing individual unit availability in a given year. Further, the percentage of hospital transfer of care times greater than 30 minutes for EMS units are displayed in the reports. 30 minutes is a representative measure used by Municipal Benchmark Network Canada. Steady progress is being made towards achieving this benchmark, with transfer of care billable hours decreasing by 33% from 2014 to 2015, and a further decrease of 22% from 2015 to 2016.
The primary function of WFPS front line units is emergency response. Fire resource location is based on the National Fire Protection Association Standard 1710 which prescribes a travel time of 4 minutes or less to 90% of high priority calls for the first engine with four firefighters. This helps to ensure that promptly reported fires do not progress beyond the room of origin, and ensures the greatest chance of successfully rescuing any trapped patients. Fire units need to be available in their primary response area to achieve this response time.
The WFPS integrated fire paramedic model capitalizes on the greater fire unit availability using firefighter-paramedics to augment our ambulance paramedic response. This provides the citizens of Winnipeg with rapid paramedic response to medical emergencies effectively, efficiently, and safely as evidenced by our comparators in Municipal Benchmarking Network Canada.
Please visit the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service documents webpage to access the reports.