“Level Zero” is the phrase at the heart of a legal fight between Albuquerque Fire and Rescue and privately owned Albuquerque Ambulance Service over the city’s proposed expansion of its authority to have AFR rescue units transport patients to the hospital.
In most cases, AFR rescue units stabilize patients on scene and Albuquerque Ambulance then takes them to the emergency room – allowing the Fire and Rescue units to return to service for new 911 calls.
When Albuquerque Ambulance has no units able to respond immediately to 911 calls, its dispatchers announce “Level Zero” over the radio.
The sharp uptick in “Level Zero,” the city says, shows the ambulance service doesn’t have enough staffed units deployed and translates into AFR rescue units spending too much time waiting at a scene for Albuquerque Ambulance to show up and transport a patient.