Las Vegas Firefighters Local 1285

Las Vegas Firefighters Could Save Taxpayers $20 million a year with their Lifesaving Medical Transports

Las Vegas Firefighters are on the verge of setting new national standards for lifesaving while saving taxpayers some $23,500,000 in the last five years alone.

The trend started in 2000 when Las Vegas firefighters started emergency medical transports. The transports not only began generating millions of dollars to benefit taxpayers, by 2009 (the year) the emergency transports were saving heart attack and stroke victims at 600% of national standards.

Today, Las Vegas Firefighters are about to cut expenses to taxpayers at a rate never envisioned before: a city consultant now believes that by taking over ALL emergency medical transport Las Vegas Firefighters can generate more than $20 million each year to benefit taxpayers. This one change would cut the cost of fire and emergency medical protection by nearly twenty percent each year!

Las Vegas Firefighters are ready to go to work. The consultant believes it can be done without additional staff or infrastructure. It’s not about more staff or more money. It’s about helping the community and saving more lives than ever.

It wasn’t too long ago that managers at Las Vegas City Hall had inaccurately claimed that the cost of firefighting in Las Vegas was increasing so fast it was “unsustainable”. They even claimed the cost of fire and EMS transport had increased 43% in a single year!

The truth? Between 2008 and 2012, the cost of running the entire Las Vegas Fire and Rescue hasn’t increased 1%.

In fact, when you include the millions that Las Vegas Firefighters generated in transport fees, the budget for the department has decreased every year since 2008.

Of course when Las Vegas was the fastest growing city in the nation, new positions, new equipment were needed just about every year. But the truth is, the fire stations and the technology is now in place. Las Vegas Firefighters are about cutting costs.

By working with taxpayers and the Las Vegas City Council, Las Vegas Firefighters have developed one of the top ten fire departments in the nation – not top ten percent, one of the top ten in the nation.