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2 DCFEMS crewmembers accused of Chick-fil-A stop ahead of ALS call

The department is investigating the incident; the responders said in a report that they were hungry and fatigued

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Ambulance 3 and Medic 3 were both sent to the call. Ambulance 3 was closer, but a firefighter said they arrived at the same time.

Photo/D.C. Fire and EMS

By Leila Merrill
EMS1

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two D.C. firefighter-EMS providers have been accused of delaying their arrival at an ALS call because they stopped to pick up their order at Chick-fil-A.

A person called 911 on March 24 and said a woman was suffering from chest pain, News4 reported.

“Ambulance 3 and Medic 3 respond for ALS chest pain for a 57-year-old female at Kaiser Permanente,” a 911 dispatcher said just after 4 p.m.

A D.C. Fire and EMS report said that the Ambulance 3 crewmembers said they were having a busy day and were hungry and fatigued.

They went to a Chick-fil-A about a mile from the call location.

The firefighters said they had put in their order before the call came and they chose to stop for “literally a few minutes tops,” according to a fire department report obtained by News4. The report written by one of the firefighters states “there was no delay in patient care or response.”

But Ambulance 3 was closer than Medic 3.

In the report, the Ambulance 3 firefighters say they arrived at the same time as the other crew.

The patient was transported to a hospital.

In a statement, D.C. Fire and EMS said, “Our response monitoring system captured an anomaly in the response of Ambulance 3. This has led to an investigation and both crew members of Ambulance 3 have been placed in [a] no patient contact status.”