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Fire chief says city paramedics sometimes must ride with AMR as ambulance staffing gaps persist
Summary
Chief Brandon Ainsworth told the council that Athens firefighters serving on first‑response crews have occasionally ridden on county AMR ambulances because arriving ambulances lacked paramedic-level staffing; the city’s first‑response program shortens response times but can create staffing tensions with the county contractor.
Athens Fire Chief Brandon Ainsworth told the City Council that city fire personnel participating in the department’s first‑response medical program have, on occasion, ridden in county-operated AMR ambulances because the arriving ambulance crew lacked paramedic-level certification.
Chief Ainsworth explained that under the county’s EMS arrangement, AMR is the contracted ambulance provider. When a city firefighter or paramedic initiates a higher level of care at a scene and an AMR ambulance that arrives is staffed at a lower certification level, the city clinician may need to remain with the patient and ride with the ambulance to avoid abandonment and to maintain continuity of care. “If our staff gets sent out on these calls, whoever initiates the first level of care, that individual must continue that level of care until somebody that is certified greater than they are arrives,” Ainsworth said.
Ainsworth said that most of the time the arrangement is a routine extra set of hands, or crews coordinate to transfer care when appropriate, but there have been recent incidents where a city paramedic rode along because the AMR unit did not have paramedic staffing available. He added that the county holds the ambulance contract and the city’s role is limited to first response under existing agreements; more than 60% of AMR’s call volume is inside Athens city limits, he said.
The chief also noted the department’s year-end statistics: total runs for 2024 reached 2,328 — the highest annual total in the department’s history — and December’s run count was 176. Fire staff logged roughly 11,635.5 hours of documented training in 2024. Council members thanked the department and pressed for continued coordination with county EMS officials.
Chief Ainsworth described the first‑response model as standard practice in many jurisdictions and said it shortens time to initial treatment compared with ambulance response alone. The council heard the chief’s report during the fire department’s monthly update and asked staff to continue tracking systemwide coordination issues with the county provider.
