CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - A recent policy change limits which medical calls City of Charleston fire personnel respond to.
That change was made to free up for more man power for more critical calls and more training.
The new policy says firefighters will only respond to non-life threatening 911 calls if EMS ask for back up or if the EMS response time is longer than 10 minutes.
Firefighters are trained to give medical assistance but the most they can do at a scene is stabilize patients and wait for EMS to arrive since they cannot transport patients.
Before, fire crews were dispatched to all medical calls.
The policy follows in the steps of other municipalities like North Charleston and Summerville.
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