The Los Angeles County Fire Department plans to ask voters for more money next year, as commanders scramble for more resources to respond to increasingly destructive wildfires and a growing volume of medical calls. Department officials say the extra revenue would be used to hire more firefighters and paramedics, and to finance equipment and infrastructure improvements for new communications technology. There were roughly 330,000 medical calls last year, up from 205,000 in 2008 — a 60% increase. But by far the largest increase has been the increase in general medical calls,” said Clayton Kazan, an emergency physician who serves as the department’s medical director. “We do need more firefighters and paramedics.

Source: Los Angeles Times November 27, 2019 13:02 UTC