MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis Firefighters Association said you will receive help despite the recent spike of 911 calls and slow ambulance response times.
The Memphis Fire Department said Thursday its EMS system is "running on fumes" with the increase of 911 calls. They received 13,000 calls in July alone.
"There’s times when you may call for an ambulance and we may not have one available," Memphis Fire Department Director Gina Sweat said.
MFD is used to working with a high volume of 911 calls on a regular basis. Matthew Tomek with the Memphis Firefighters Association said, no matter what, someone will always come to help you.
"All of our fire equipment, fire engines, ladder trucks, and rescue trucks throughout the city are also staffed with EMTs and sometimes paramedics," Tomek said.
From what some EMTs and paramedics answering these calls lately tell Tomek, there's only been a slight increase of people calling about Covid-19 symptoms.
"It’s your 'run-of-the-mill' calls as well," Tomek said. "People just needing to go to the emergency room for various reasons."
Hospitals are reporting you might have to wait 24 hours to be seen in the emergency room because of the increase of Covid-19 patients. Therefore, ambulances are waiting hours outside the ER for a spot to open for their patient.
"That’s what’s tying up ambulances that could be responding to other calls," Tomek said.
Tomek said dispatchers aren't screening calls any differently right now even with the slower response times with ambulances.
"Anytime a 911 call is made to the fire department requesting an ambulance depending on the circumstances of the call we’ll send a fire engine or a truck to the scene as well," Tomek said.