Chicago Paramedics Ordered to Return Bunker Gear

Two years after SCBA were removed from Chicago ambulances, the fire department is taking PPE away from its paramedics.

The last graduating class of paramedics did not receive helmets and a recent memo told current medics to reurn their bunker gear. Paramedic field chiefs were ordered to return their SCBA facepieces as well.

“Local 2 believe the removal of the bunker gear from our paramedics is not in the best interest of our membership,” Local 2 President Tom Ryan told the Chicago Sun-Times.

“Chicago’s paramedics face extremely dangerous situations every day on every shift," Ryan added. "These dangers are often unforeseen and unpredictable."

The memo stated that members must return the gear, or pay for it if it is missing.

In an email to the newspaper, Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said that the non-fire trained paramedics don't wear the bunker gear because they are not required to enter hazardous areas. 

“If a situation comes up that requires a paramedic in a fire area or dangerous location, they will send in a FIRE paramedic not a single role paramedic," Langford wrote. "In other words, a paramedic from a truck or engine company not a paramedic from an ambulance. Since ambulance paramedics don’t go into those situations, they do not need that type of gear.”

The medics will receive new gear that's designed to protect them from bodily fluids and is lighter weight.

“A few years ago, a single-room [occupancy] hotel at Jackson and Kedzie caught fire. People were jumping and paramedics had to go the building to get them. Glass was falling along with other debris,” a paramedic told the Sun-Times on the condition of anonymity. “This administration can’t stand paramedics. So, they will take the bunker gear away and give us some God-awful crap.”