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Show Local fire chiefs preparing proposal for takeover of paramedic program be that we'll look at the results of the study and just say the Sheriff is doing it right and leave it there. In other business, the prospect of the district switching from a primarily part-time staff to a larger full-time contingent was discussed. According to Argyle, the district could hire seven full-time firefighters with full benefits for the same $180,000 per year spent on stand-by wages for part-time employees. However, he Dointed more damage and possible loss of life. "That would threaten firefighters lives and that of the people we're supposed to protect,' he said. "Working with part-time people gives us much better coverage." The question of hiring full-time firefighters to man the district came about due to the hours put in by part-time employees, and the possible possi-ble liability of the district for benefits. Under the law, employees working work-ing under 20-hours a week need not collect retirement or insurance benefits. However, many of the firefighters put in more than 20-hours 20-hours a week, which could be considered con-sidered full-time in a court of law. And, the district could be liable to pay any retroactive benefits if taken to court. Board members will continue to examine alternatives and present their findings at the next meeting. By SCOTT SUMMERILL BOUNTIFUL At the Sept. 24 board meeting. South Davis Fire District (SDFD) Chief Brent Argyle said he and Bountiful Fire Department Depart-ment (BFD) Chief Jerry Lemmon will present a proposal to the county commission that will outline how the departments would handle paramedic services if they were redistributed from the Sheriff s department to fire departments. The proposal is being prepared at out that other costs for material and -overhead would be incurred as well, bringing the actual increase much higher. In addition, the district would lose valuable fire protection. "We can keep all three stations open during daytime hours with six people on duty," he said. "If we went to a full-time staffing, we would only be able to have two ; people on duty at a time, and only j the main station would stay open. The other two would have to be kept closed unless there's a fire. The closing of two stations under the full-time employee scenario could result in a 30-minute response time to a fire, according to Argyle, and that would mean a great deal the request of the county commission. commis-sion. The commission is currently conducting a study to determine possible alternatives to the present paramedic program . Under the proposal, paramedic service would be handled by one of the departments, and ambulance service would be picked up by the other. I would support Bountiful City in having the paramedic service if they will support me in having the ambulance service," he said. "Both departments need to grow and maintain support. I don't want to seem like I'm in competition." Arevle said the BFD would be most able to adapt to handle the paramedic service because of its contingent of full-time employees. "Most of mine are part-time,' he said. "It's hard to send a part-time employee to a six-month course to become a paramedic. Davis County Commissioner Robert Rose questioned the need for having both Emergency Medical Technicians ( EMT) and paramedics. "I perceived having the ambulances am-bulances manned with paramedics," he said. He added that breaking paramedic and ambulance am-bulance service into two departments, depart-ments, "would seem to be just a smaller version of what we already have. Argyle explained that only a maximum of 20 percent of the calls would require more than basic life support. Therefore, EMTs could handle the majority of the calls and keep the paramedics free in the event of a paramedical emergency. "To tie up that number of paramedics on non-paramedical calls could cause problems,' Argyle said. "You don't want a paramedic tied up setting a broken arm when a paramedical emergency occurs. They shouldn't be used to merely transport people. The problem prob-lem is that once they answer a call they're pretty much committed to see it through even if another emergency comes up. "The question is whether there really could be a savings if we took the paramedics out of the Sheriffs department," Rose said. "It could |