Florida County Forcing Most Paramedics To Fight Fires
The bulk of Marion County's ambulance paramedics will have to learn how to fight fires if they want to keep their jobs.
MARION COUNTY, Fla. --
The bulk of Marion County's ambulance paramedics will have to learn how to fight fires if they want to keep their jobs.
The county commission has approved a job description and pay plan for the merger of the fire rescue department and the ambulance service.
Paramedics say they're looking at serious pay cuts after the county was forced to take over the Emergency Medical Services Alliance, EMSA, after the city of Ocala and two local hospitals pulled their funding.
The service will be integrated into Marion County Fire Rescue and Tuesday paramedics learned for certain that, if they want to keep their jobs, most of them will have to learn how to fight fires.
"It's a shame to take somebody with 20 years on an ambulance, that's perfectly capable of going out and treating patients, and forcing them to become a fireman," said EMSA paramedic Robert Brill.
EMSA employees can begin applying for jobs with Marion County on April 1. Most, the county told Eyewitness News, will be hired. Fire Rescue takes over the ambulance service in October.
