VIDEO: Seattle City Council members will soon vote on whether to approve a measure that would give Seattle Fire Department (SFD) personnel protections under the city's obstruction ordinance.
Currently, Seattle law makes it a crime to physically interfere with "public officers" responding to emergencies, but it does not explicitly include all firefighters, EMTs and other personnel. "Multiple times a day, SFD's EMTs struggle to gain access, again, to the disenfranchised, those struggling with mental health issues, those struggling with substance abuse issues, and more," SFD Assistant Chief Chris Lombard said in his remarks to council members Tuesday. "Incidents and incident scenes are often very chaotic and when EMTs are most focused on the surroundings, they struggle to focus on the patients and to provide the best of patient care, always having to look over their shoulders."