The Milan News-Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
What does Category 2 mean?
Firefighters only will respond to life-threatening emergencies
By Brian Cox, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: April 3, 2008
The recent switch of the Milan Area Fire Department from a Category 1 to a Category 2 department has caused some furor among firefighters and residents.
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The reclassification, prompted by the Milan Area Fire Board's attempt to reduce the number of runs the department goes on to avert a costly proposal to staff the department with full-time firefighters, was approved by the fire board in January and is currently under review.
The change in categories means that the Milan Area Fire Department will not automatically respond to all 911 calls. Category 1 departments, which in Washtenaw County include the townships of Ann Arbor, Northfield, Superior and Ypsilanti, as well as the Chelsea and Dexter Area Fire Departments, respond to all 911 calls, whether they are deemed life-threatening or not.
Category 2 departments, such as the townships of Augusta, Manchester, Pittsfield, Salem and Scio, as well as departments in Saline, Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor, respond automatically only to life-threatening emergencies, leaving all other 911 calls for Huron Valley Ambulance to handle.
The difference between the two classifications, said Dale Berry, president and chief executive officer of Huron Valley Ambulance, is one of service, not "clinical outcome."
"I would point out that there is no clinical difference between Category 1 vs. Category 2," wrote Berry in a letter to Milan City Administrator Dan Bishop. "Patients who are unstable or in life-threatening condition will continue to receive an immediate fire department response as a Category 2 agency."
As a Category 2 department, when a 911 call is placed, a Milan police dispatcher will make the determination whether the situation is life-threatening. If it is, Milan firefighters will be called out. If in the dispatcher's judgment the situation is not life-threatening, the call will be relayed to HVA, where its status will again be assessed.
About 25 percent of all 911 medical requests result in a non-emergency response by ambulance, according to Berry. In a third of all 911 medical responses, no patient is transported, he said, and of those that are transported, only about 10 percent are unstable or in a life-threatening condition.
The reclassification could reduce the Milan Area Fire Department's estimated 900 runs by 20 percent, Berry said.
Berry estimated that of the 700 or more calls the Milan Area Fire Department receives in a year, 200 are non-emergencies, 250 are canceled and 550 are transported to the hospital by HVA. Of the number of people taken by ambulance, he said 10 percent are critically ill.
The Pittsfield Township fire department has been Category 2 since 1986, said Public Safety Director John Phillips.
"We've got a great working relationship with HVA," he said. "They need us and we need them."
Phillips' department responded to 2,355 incidents last year. Under Category 2, the department is not required to respond to reports of traffic incidents of an unknown nature, he said, but Pittsfield continues to respond to all unknown incidents on the expressway.
Category 2 provides his department with flexibility, he said.
"When we're needed, we ought to go," he said. "When we're not needed, we ought to be ready to go when we are needed. The days of just going to everything are over with."
In Saline, which staffs two fulltime firefighters, the department has been a Category II since 1996, according to Fire Chief Craig Hoeft.
"Everything we respond to is life-threatening," he said, but even that has some leeway.
"We'll still go help an elderly person back in the bed if HVA can't get there in a timely fashion," he said.
Saline firefighters might also respond to an unknown traffic incident during a winter snowstorm when emergency responders are particularly busy, he said.
"There's a lot of flexibility there," he said.
HVA's average response time in the city of Milan is 11 minutes, 10.5 minutes in York Township, 12 minutes in Milan Township and 14 minutes in London Township, according to Berry.
Milan dispatchers are currently receiving training on the criteria of the new classification, according to Milan Police Chief Jeff Lewis.
Staff Writer Brian Cox can be reached at 429-7380 or bcox@heritage.com.
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