Firefighters deal with a lot of 911 calls that aren't exactly emergencies, and now the city is unveiling its solution to the problem: a six-month pilot program called Spokane Ride to Care.
City officials created the idea for this program nearly three years ago.
10,000 times a year, the Spokane Fire Department heads to an emergency call, and doesn't find an emergency on the other end.
“Every time someone calls 911, even for those non-urgent types of issues, it takes a big red fire truck with the capability to resuscitate someone and save people's lives and an ambulance out of the system,” said Brian Schaeffer, Spokane Fire Department.
And, it costs a lot of money.
So on Monday, the city unveiled its solution.