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Detroit Fire Department adding more than a dozen ambulances during busy summer season

By Camille Amiri
Published 
Crime and Public Safety
FOX 2 Detroit

Detroit Fire Department adds ambulances after EMS shortages

The Detroit Fire Department has contracted a private ambulance service to help with the busy summer months. More firefighters and EMTs are also expected to be joining the department next month, too.

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Emergency crews tend to be busier in the summer. To combat this, the Detroit Fire Department is adding up to 18 ambulances to its fleets daily.

"Kids are out of school, so you have more injuries there," Executive Fire Commissioner Charles Simms said. "And you have more people out throughout the day, even at night."

Simms said there were about 36 ambulances out Monday night, a stark contrast to back in April, when the department was down 11 rigs.

DFD contracted with a private ambulance service company that will be providing rigs and temporary staff. The contract is for four months.

Last month, Simms said the department was in a "transition phase" and was hopeful about new recruits coming in.

Read: Burnout among Detroit first responders leading to dangerous EMS shortage

"We still have 40 recruits that should be coming out in July, as well as in July we’re going to hire anywhere between 70 and 100 new firefighter/EMTs," he said.

He said that despite the struggles, they are rounding a corner.

"So, our response time, our reflex time, is actually at the national average and what we’re looking to do is basically decrease it, so we can be the trendsetters. I think we have a good chance of doing it. We got some other things in place that we’re going to implement probably in the next 6-9 months, which would also help decrease those response times," he said.