Jacksonville Fire Department is expanding its paramedic services after receiving a secondary, temporary license from the state for its substation.
Currently, the main station’s crew responds to calls for paramedic services, regardless of where the call originates.
That often means calls in the substation’s district require both stations to respond, tying up both crews, Chief Doug Sills said.
“Depending on how a call comes in, how it is coded and how serious it is, the substation will respond because it is in their district, but the main station will also have to respond,” Sills said.
Because the department is not always able to fully staff four paramedics — two at each station — for each shift, only the main station has a license to respond to paramedic calls, Sills said.