At its Dec. 12, 2023, meeting, the county board of supervisors asked the
chief executive and Cal Fire to develop a strategy to alleviate the
shortage of firefighter II/paramedics vacancies in the Riverside County
Fire Department (RCFD).

This was approved without any discussion and the board expected a report
with recommendations for a solution to be given to its ad hoc committee
on Fire and Emergency Medical Services within 60 days. As of April 30, a
written report has not been submitted to the committee or the board.

According to board staff, while a written report is no longer expected,
significant progress is being made.

The firefighter II/paramedic is considered a first responder. These
individuals provide advance life support to patients at emergencies. The
county’s approved budget and agreement with Cal Fire authorized 305
firefighter II/paramedic positions. According to supervisors Kevin
Jeffries (1^(st) District) and Karen Spiegel (2^(nd) District) in
December, only 40% or 123 of these critical positions were filled.

“What has been happening for more than a year is a concerted effort to
be innovative about how we respond to emergency situations. Not always
responding with an ambulance, fire engine, paramedic … but rather triage
the initial call in order to determine if there’s perhaps an ‘urgent’
resource available to respond to nonemergencies,” stated Chair Chuck
Washington (3^(rd) District). “Or perhaps no response is the appropriate
response. This could reduce the demand on those limited resources.”

Firefighter/paramedic positions are difficult positions to fill because
the individual needs approved paramedic training and firefighter
experience. Although the county created a paramedic training program,
none of the graduates were hired due to lack of firefighting experience.

“The current shortage of paramedic firefighters and the resulting down
staffing of roughly 8 fire engines across the county each day is
unacceptable,” Jeffries wrote to the Town Crier, emphasizing his views
from December. “However, the plan that Cal Fire is preparing to
implement should help stabilize and eventually improve staffing levels.”

To address this problem, the county has learned that Cal Fire and the
state’s Human Resources Department have agreed to amend the minimum
qualification standards so graduates of paramedic training, with no fire
experience, can now be hired by Cal Fire. They then will be trained to
be firefighters, according to Jeffrey Greene, Jeffries’ chief of staff.

Brooke Federico, the county’s director of communications, confirmed this
in an email to the Town Crier. “The Fire Department is already starting
to make paramedic staffing changes to ensure all stations have at least
one paramedic. This change is ongoing. The county is continuing to work
with Cal Fire and the state’s Human Resources Department on the minimum
qualifications for new paramedics. These conversations are still in
progress.”

To quickly alleviate the paramedic staff shortage, Greene believes Cal
Fire will meet with labor groups to obtain agreement that would allow
the RCFD to temporarily reassign or redistribute current firefighter
paramedics to various stations to avoid having any fire stations without
paramedic staffing.

“These two actions should result in significant staffing improvements
for our Riverside County residents,” Greene said.

Increasing the paramedic workforce will benefit residents during
emergencies, but it is also important for the health of these employees.
The number of vacant firefighter II/paramedic positions not only
stresses the county’s ability to respond to medical emergencies, but
also the individuals themselves.

County Fire Chief Bill Weiser has confirmed that the
firefighter/paramedic vacancies are declining. “The Riverside County
Fire Department remains committed to collaborating with Cal Fire and Cal
HR to revise the entry criteria for paramedic firefighter positions. Our
goal is to ensure our department remains competitive with other local
agencies in the area. The department continues to collaborate with our
local colleges to promote growth in certification of more paramedics.

“… While the department continues to face hiring challenges at the
paramedic rank, vacancy rates have been progressively lowered through
hiring new employees in the last few months,” Weiser said. “The
department is moving forward at the implementation of a workforce plan
that uses our existing firefighting paramedics to provide maximum
coverage of paramedic services at all Riverside County Fire Stations.”

Darin Schemmer, communications director for Supervisor V. Manuel Perez
(4^(th) District), did not provide any comments on the paramedic
situation.