EMS resources abundant during holiday weekend in Oakland

OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) - KRON4 is learning more about the response times of the paramedics and ambulances in the city of Oakland on the night of the 4th of July.

On Monday, Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said there was so much violence in what he called "12-hours of chaos" -- It affected paramedics who were trying to get to shooting scenes, but that might not be the case.  

The company that provides EMS service says there were plenty of resources available and even says some ambulances that were not being used.

As America celebrated its 245th birthday Sunday night, the party turned violent on the streets of Oakland as fireworks were met by the sounds of bullets.

Oakland police officers jumped from scene to scene investigating 8-separate shootings in what Chief Armstrong called ‘12-hours of chaos.’

"Our Falck ambulance system was over inundated with calls that they were unable to respond in a timely manner to these shootings. Ambulances did not have enough resources to come out and assist in the city of Oakland,” Armstrong said. 

But the company responsible for providing ambulance service to Oakland and most of Alameda County says that wasn't the case.

In a 16-hour span, from Sunday at 6 p.m. to Monday morning at 10, Falck Ambulance Services says its crews responded to 21 Priority 1 calls in Oakland, with an average response time of 7-minutes and 47-seconds for those calls.   

Those calls include shootings, heart attacks, and other critical needs.

Overall, the agency handled 314-calls in that time period. The agency says it had 34-ambulances staffed and even some ambulances not being utilized.

In a statement to KRON4, the Falck Ambulance Services says they too are also concerned about violence in the community but say overall, despite the violence, calls were fairly typical and that no mutual aid was needed from outside agencies.

Falck Ambulance Services could not say if the 7:47 response time is below, or above its normal average but according to its contract with Alameda County, it is within the 10-minutes required for the majority of its Priority 1 calls.

KRON4 did reach out to OPD for a follow-up response to the information provided to us and the Alameda County Regional Emergency Communications Center for comment. So far, we have yet to hear back.

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