Specific Questions as to current Fly Car Operations and Deployment

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firepost

Joined
Apr 15, 2012
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I have been attempting to follow up on and keep track of how New York's current Fly Car program is operating.
I know that the current program started in 2016 and became official in 2017 so here are my questions.

1 Are there still only 10 Fly Cars that are assigned to the Bronx or have they been increased or deployed in other Boroughs since 2017?

2 Did the Fly Cars replace any of the ALS ambulances or are they in addition to the ALS ambulances?
For example were any ALS ambulances downgraded to BLS units since the Fly Cars were put in service or does New York still run with the same amount of ALS ambulances?

3 Are the Fly Cars normally stationed at specific intersections like the Ambulances are stationed when on duty?

4 What are the Fly Car radio designations that identify them as Fly Cars as opposed to an ALS ambulance?

5 As to my understanding the Fly Cars have a Paramedic and an Paramedic Officer assigned so are the Fly Cars considered to be "Conditions" Supervisor units or are they just EMS response units?

6 If the FLY cars are Conditions units does that mean that they are only assigned one per EMS station like normal Conditions unit are?

7 If they are considered s Conditions units then wouldn't that take them away from EMS calls much of the time so the officer could fulfill his supervisory duties?

8 What is an EMS tactical unit and how it assigned to an area?

Thanks for your assistance.


 
In answer to question 7 and I don't mean to sound critical but for some reason the EMS Lt.'s and Capt.'s are constantly given more duties to perform during their tour as the upper echelon seems to think they can be in three places at once. The big laugh is that they want to know why you did not perform or complete aspect "A" even though you were performing aspects "B" & "C." and vice versa. I recall on Capt. saying to "upstairs" that he was going to have the shops install a typewriter in the glove compartment of the suburban so that he could keep everybody happy.

Answer to question 8...the tactical units are assigned as needed to areas that have a current high call volume. They are also assigned to special events. At least that's the way it was years ago.
 
Fly cars are only in the Bronx, they perform ALS fitness well as supervisor duties. Yes 3 or 4 AND ambulances were disbanded to create the fly car profram.
 
1. Right now there is an order for 26 additional PRUs (Paramedic Response Units, the fly cars actual title) they are slated to be deployed to the Bronx aka EMS Division 2 on October 1, 2019 replacing all ALS ambulance units.

2. As was previously stated they moved the medics to the PRUs and took the ambulances off the road and reassigned them to other stations. There was no loss or improvement in staffing or coverage to my knowledge.

3. ALS PRUs have a 89 or Cross-Street Location they are supposed to be posted at. I do not believe that Conditions PRUs do, but i"ll inquire.

4. I've heard them refereed to Medic, i.e Medic 27 would be out of Station 27. I'm not sure if that goes for both ALS PRUs and/ or Conditions PRUs.

5. The PRUs which have replaced ALS buses have only medics on them, whilst the PRUs which have replaced Conditions do indeed have a boss and a medic.

6. Again staffing hasn't changed just the vehicle types and call signs.

7. At most stations except some of the outposts there are two officers on duty, one on the desk handling administrative and one on the road supervising. That said the PRUs have gotten in the way of some of the duties of the bosses, would may now be on a ALS job when they are needed somewhere else.

8 Tactical Response Groups are Stations, whose units don't have a ATOM or 89. Instead they move to where the call volume or need (i.e. special events) is. The Bronx and Queens each have one. Rumors are they are looking to spread them to the other Divisions.
 
Thank you "baileyjeff", "memory master", and "Lebby", for helping to answer the questions poised here by "firepost".

I appreciate your assistance and I too like to follow the workings of the FDNY/EMS. I am glad to see that the FDNY/EMS is being represented here.
 
Thanks for the information. It appears that the FDNY Ems management is sold on the idea of using Fly Cars for ALS runs if they plan on replacing the ALS ambulances in the Bronx with Fly Cars in October.
Lebby said:
1. Right now there is an order for 26 additional PRUs (Paramedic Response Units, the fly cars actual title) they are slated to be deployed to the Bronx aka EMS Division 2 on October 1, 2019 replacing all ALS ambulance units.

2. As was previously stated they moved the medics to the PRUs and took the ambulances off the road and reassigned them to other stations. There was no loss or improvement in staffing or coverage to my knowledge.

3. ALS PRUs have a 89 or Cross-Street Location they are supposed to be posted at. I do not believe that Conditions PRUs do, but i"ll inquire.

4. I've heard them refereed to Medic, i.e Medic 27 would be out of Station 27. I'm not sure if that goes for both ALS PRUs and/ or Conditions PRUs.

5. The PRUs which have replaced ALS buses have only medics on them, whilst the PRUs which have replaced Conditions do indeed have a boss and a medic.

6. Again staffing hasn't changed just the vehicle types and call signs.

7. At most stations except some of the outposts there are two officers on duty, one on the desk handling administrative and one on the road supervising. That said the PRUs have gotten in the way of some of the duties of the bosses, would may now be on a ALS job when they are needed somewhere else.

8 Tactical Response Groups are Stations, whose units don't have a ATOM or 89. Instead they move to where the call volume or need (i.e. special events) is. The Bronx and Queens each have one. Rumors are they are looking to spread them to the other Divisions.
Click to expand...
 
Looks good on paper until the situation arises when there is no bus available for rapid transport and believe me it will. If the concept was so great why did it not last when it was first started back in the late 90's?
 
memory master said:
Looks good on paper until the situation arises when there is no bus available for rapid transport and believe me it will. If the concept was so great why did it not last when it was first started back in the late 90's?
Click to expand...

Good Point MM. There is also the minor yet significant Logistics Issue of the unattended
Fly-car.They make an inviting target for Theft/ Vandalism left parked on the street.
When I worked EMS in Binghamton our Ambulance Squad had ALS Fly-cars.
We almost always always had a FF or Police Officer bring the Car to the hospital when the ALS Tech
was working on The Bus. In NYC this means FDNY or NYPD needs to provide a Driver for the One-Tech Units.
 
STAjo said:
memory master said:
Looks good on paper until the situation arises when there is no bus available for rapid transport and believe me it will. If the concept was so great why did it not last when it was first started back in the late 90's?
Click to expand...

Good Point MM. There is also the minor yet significant Logistics Issue of the unattended
Fly-car.They make an inviting target for Theft/ Vandalism left parked on the street.
When I worked EMS in Binghamton our Ambulance Squad had ALS Fly-cars.
We almost always always had a FF or Police Officer bring the Car to the hospital when the ALS Tech
was working on The Bus. In NYC this means FDNY or NYPD needs to provide a Driver for the One-Tech Units.
Click to expand...

This would be one of the EMT?s from the transport bus more then likely

The solution to the shortage of bus? to transport like MM said would be to add additional BLS tours so there are the same amount of ambulances on the road, with the paramedics in addition. 
 
To what I understand they are not adding any additional BLS units in the Bronx. What will happen is anytime an ALS PRU goes on a call a BLS transport unit has to be assigned as well, and not adding any additional units will greatly hurt the BLS response times.
 
It's like everything else, the almighty $$$$. Patient care is last on their agenda but God help the EMT or Paramedic who doesn't obtain a SS# and put it on the ACR.
 
Seems to me that they have tried the PRU thing at least twice, maybe 3 or 4 times in the past and it has never worked. Why will this time be any different?
 
kidfrmqns said:
Seems to me that they have tried the PRU thing at least twice, maybe 3 or 4 times in the past and it has never worked. Why will this time be any different?
Click to expand...

What's that definition of Insanity again - doing the Same Thing over & over;
expecting ... ?  ???
 
What is the difference between the conditions unit and fly car? Thank you
 
capthale said:
Have they decided on a specific fly car design ?
Click to expand...

Here's what they look like:


maxresdefault.jpg


DcFcgngUQAEmg8j.jpgv


 
A conditions car is a single EMS Lieutenant riding by themselves, a fly car is a EMS Lieutenant that rides with a partner and operates as a ALS unit.
 
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