By MES Dispatch Staff
The Briefing
• The Long Beach Fire Department in California restored and expanded advanced life support resources to improve emergency medical services and reduce response times across the city.
• The department added a full-time paramedic rescue unit and adjusted deployment of existing rescue and assessment units.
• City officials said the enhancements cut average response times by about 30 seconds.
• The city budget and a firefighter labor agreement helped support the expanded EMS coverage.
• Fire officials said the changes also reduced periods when no rescue units were available.
LONG BEACH, CA — The Long Beach Fire Department has expanded its emergency medical services resources and reported reduced response times citywide, officials said.
The department restored Rescue 2 as a full-time, 24-hour paramedic rescue unit, maintained other peak-load rescue services and added a paramedic assessment unit on Engine 11, along with relocating a basic life support unit to a new station area, fire officials said.
Fire Chief Dennis Buchanan said the enhancements were supported by the city’s fiscal year 2026 budget and a labor agreement with the local firefighters association, which helped ensure additional resources were available for EMS operations.
Officials reported that the changes have improved rescue availability and cut average response times by about 30 seconds compared with the same period last year.
City leaders said covering peak call volumes and expanding paramedic capacity will help maintain EMS reliability as emergency medical calls continue to be a major portion of total responses.