I-Team Report: No Ambulances

Hagit: "What did you think when you heard there was no ambulance available?"

Beatrice McCray: "I felt like I wasn't important, and it made no difference whether I croaked or not. I think it's a very bad situation. I think it's dangerous."

The I-Team talked to firefighters with experience ranging from several years to several decades. They insisted on disguises because they fear retribution from the department, but they're united in their messages:

"I'm doing this because I think the public needs to know," one said. "People are at risk."

"This is something that impacts people's lives. If it hasn't killed somebody, it's conceivable that it could. and I think something should be done before that happens."

The firefighters tell of long waits and uncomfortable explanations: 

"I remember one time a man was under extreme back pain." 

"You're sitting there twiddling your thumbs making up excuses why they're waiting." 

"I have waited on a scene for an hour for an ambulance before." 

"You don't want to tell them that there isn't enough ambulances." 

"I have personally waited 45 minutes for an ambulance."

"You may be three out, which means you may be third in line."

"You'll be second on the list." 

TriData made it clear Cincinnati has much fewer ambulances that even smaller cities.

It's not like the fire department hasn't known about the problem. In 2004, it looked at six months of data and found 281 instances of "no transport unit available", averaging one and a half times a day.

Then in 2006, the city paid for this 336-page "Comprehensive Review of the Cincinnati Fire Department," known in inner circles as the "TriData" report, for the consulting firm that researched and wrote it. Akron, for example, has 13 transport units for 217,074 people, averaging one ambulance for every 16,698 people. Compare that to Cincinnati's ten ambulances, one per 33,129. The report concluded that Cincinnati needs 14 transport units just to get close to what most cities provide and to eliminate "the issue of extended response time to outlying... areas."

Firefighter: "I just feel that it's a shame because I know it, and the city knows it. Every level of the administration is aware of this situation. They know all the way to the top."

"It is a problem," said Denny Clark, District Chief/Medical Chief. Clark serves as the department's medical chief, in charge of ambulances. The I-Team asked Fire Chief Robert Wright for an interview but he designated Clark and two assistant chiefs instead.

Hagit: "Is it acceptable that at least twice a day someone calls 9-1-1 for an ambulance and can't get one?" 

Clark: "We are aware that there are far too many incidences where there is no transportation immediately available."

Clark says fire administration is just as frustrated. Assistant Chief Chris Corbett says administration proposed a plan to increase the number of ambulances, 'though not immediately to the 14 Tri-Data recommended. But he said they ran into union opposition.

"Basically, it's just because Local 48 was not in full agreement with the way we were going about it and how it should be done and when it should be done," said Chris Corbett, Assistant Chief.

"To put it all on us is a copout, I feel," said Marc Monahan, Cincinnati Firefighters Union President. "They should have prepared for this. To implement something prior to having the number of paramedics, it could set it up for failure."

Union president Marc Monahan says fire administration seemed to want to reorganize how the current ten ambulances operate, without training enough paramedics to staff more, and without paying the overtime the union felt would be necessary to get started now.

"Lots of different options were talked about. It always came down to 'We can't do that because of money.' It seems like the bottom line is they're trying increase and do all this without any additional cost."

Hagit: "People don't care if it's the union or the management. They just care about getting an ambulance when they need it." 

Monahan: "It's totally unacceptable. Maybe we need to sit back and look at these options that were tossed aside in the beginning due to lack of money." 

"I'm frustrated because those of us in administrative positions have a responsibility to provide the tools that the people doing the job need," Chief Clark said. "And I don't know that we've given them everything that they need." 

"I believe the money can be reallocated if enough people complain, because the whole point is for us to save lives," said one firefighter. 

The department is on its way with a newly accredited class of 24 firefighters training to become paramedics. But it would take more money from City Council to increase from the ten ambulances we have now to the fourteen TriData recommended. Two years after the report came out, everyone agrees the situation is only worse. The latest numbers we got from the city show that last year, even more people called for help but found no ambulance available.

Beatrice McCray: "People shouldn't have to wait." 8:08-13 What is wrong with Cincinnati? Why don't we have the same amount or more? / 9:50-10:12

Hagit: "Is there something you would like to say to the fire chief and to the City of Cincinnati Council about this?"

Beatrice McCray: "Yes. Help. I wish they would look into it because this could be them. It could be their mother or father in the situation that I am in."

Hagit: The fire department says in true emergencies, it has mutual aid agreements with other departments for quick ambulance service.


But everyone agreed, you don't have to be on death's door to suffer and need quick transport. That's where in cincinnati, especially if you live in outlying areas like Mount Washington or Sayler Park or Madisonville, You might wait longer while an ambulance makes its way from the other side of town.

The only solution right now: City council would need to allot more money for equipment for four extra ambulances and to staff all of them 24/7, even if it means overtime.

Anchor on set: What do the medics riding the ambulances have to say?

Hagit: Right now, they're getting no break when they're "on the box," as they call ambulances. They're running constantly from one side of town to the other. That's not ideal for quality care, either.