On Wednesday, the Sterling Heights Fire Department kicked-off its Advanced Life Support (ALS) service by placing four (4) new ambulances into action at their respective stations.
Sterling Heights City Council had the honor of dedicating these new vehicles and the new service itself at a ceremony at Fire Headquarters Station #5.
The transition from outsourcing ALS to providing the service in-house was the result of more than a year of work from the Fire Department to develop the program, purchase the equipment and hire new employees. This program was approved by City Council in Dec. 2016 after a thorough analysis of the program. The program was ultimately developed to be cost neutral and not require additional funding to move forward.
“This initiative will provide for a significant increase in the capabilities of the Fire Department by adding four additional Advanced Life Support apparatuses to four of our fire stations,” said Fire Chief Chris Martin. “This will inevitably result in reduced response times and more firefighters available on a daily basis to handle emergencies.”
Moving forward, Martin said, firefighter/paramedics will now be responsible for patient care from the time they arrive at a residence, until the time the patient is delivered to the hospital.
“This continuity of care also allows for the Fire Department to maintain complete control over the quality of care rendered in the field,” Martin said.
Mayor Michael C. Taylor said he’s proud the highly trained Sterling Heights Fire Department staff will now be providing ALS transport for all calls within City borders.
“There’s no group I’d trust more with my life or the lives of my family or friends than the Sterling Heights Fire Department,” Taylor said. “Sterling Heights is proud to maintain the top-rated Fire Department in the State of Michigan with our well-deserved ‘2’ ISO rating. I look forward to seeing the continued success of our firefighter/paramedics as they take on this new role.”
ISO is a rating agency that rates cities to help insurance companies determine risk. The lower a city’s numerical ISO rating, the better it is. On a scale of 1-10, Sterling Heights ranks a 2. There is only one other city in the State of Michigan with a 2-ranking, the City of Kalamazoo. There are no cities with a 1-ranking.
For more information, please contact Fire Chief Chris Martin at (586) 446-2951 or via e-mail at cmartin@sterling-heights.net.