May Likes Toronto2d ago

Here's a nice little walkthrough for when you should call the cops:

Severe Injury/medical emergency -> No, you should call an ambulance.

Car Crash -> Fire department and ambulance

Mental Health Crisis -> Community healthcare network. 211 in most communities, or find a local community group dedicated to that care

Fender Bender -> Get yourself to a collision centre. They don't give a shit.

Crimes -> You can try the non-emergency line, but they're not gonna show up or even call back. Enjoy being on hold for 3 hours.

Someone who's an active danger to the public -> That is the cop.

There's no reason to call the cops, or for them to exist in the first place.

Show threadCarolyn2d ago

@mayintoronto Folk call 911 in most of those situations and the operator determines who gets sent.

Often times with health emergencies, fire department and ambulance are deployed, with fire truck responding the quickest. At least in my experience.

I do think the 911 operators need to be better educated with regards to alerting cops, as most folk facing an emergency know 911.

Show threadMay Likes Toronto2d ago
@CStamp There's a massive education campaign in Toronto right now getting people to call 211 for mental health and social supports instead of 911. It's been really nice to see those posters.
Show threadMay Likes Toronto2d ago
@CStamp but also if you call 911, they ask you if you need fire, ambulance or police first. (idk if that's changed recently, but I've had that a couple times calling for an ambulance.)
Show threadSarcastiCat2d ago

@mayintoronto In Winnipeg if you call 911 for a medical emergency, they dispatch a......

fire truck with a full crew of firefighters and one paramedic.

And then later an ambulance. Maybe.

It's like "Yeah, yeah, chest pain. But don't you think you might also be on fire? We'll send a fire truck just in case, ok? Yep, sending a fire truck right now...."

@CStamp

Show threadCarolyn2d ago
@Plumbert I think it’s just a matter of response times. @mayintoronto
Show threadChris Siebenmann1d ago

@CStamp @Plumbert @mayintoronto That's my impression in Toronto, and I think that the response times typically work out in favor of the fire department because they have so many fire stations so you're probably only a few minutes away from one of them.

(911 will send an ambulance if you only need that, but if someone calls in an accident I think they dispatch both fire and ambulance if there's a fire unit near enough to get there first. That was my experience with my one accident.)

Show threadSarcastiCat1d ago

@cks @CStamp.

I think it is response time now, because the firefighters having won the budget fight decades ago means they have more vehicles and staff. But now we have situations where there are no fire crews available for fire calls because they are all out on medical calls. It would be better, and cheaper, to have ambulances with 2 paramedics attend rather than pumper trucks with 1 paramedic and a bunch of firefighters. We'll see if city govt can change the status quo.

@mayintoronto

Show threadCarolyn

@Plumbert @cks @mayintoronto It's more than that. Firetrucks respond then can leave when the paramedics and ambulance arrive. Ambulances transport patients to a hospital, but then have to wait around until a bed is found for a patient, which can be an hour. This will affect response times.

With regards to fire crews, it would be a rare medical emergency that would call away all engines in a station.

Mar 26 at 6:55pmWeb
Show threadChris Siebenmann1d ago
@CStamp @Plumbert @mayintoronto My understanding is that fire response times (and thus fire station density) are set by how flame-proof building codes require buildings to be. Fire trucks have to be able to get from the nearest station to a fire before a small fire turns into a major one. But actual fires are unusual (we've gotten pretty good at that), so you have all those fire people sitting around otherwise idle, and all of a sudden they're mostly doing paramedic calls.
Show threadCarolyn1d ago
@cks @Plumbert That’s not a bad thing. They are being paid, might as well have something to do. It also keeps their edge for emergency response. @mayintoronto