By EMS1 Staff
WASHINGTON — A Washington, D.C. firefighter/EMT, who, along with his partner, made a stop for fast food during an emergency call in March 2023, has been fired, according to News4.
A trial board reviewed the case and reached an agreement to terminate his employment.
A representative from D.C. Fire and EMS told NBC4 that the firefighter/EMT is no longer affiliated with the department.
Original story below:
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.”
This article, originally published March 31, 2023, was updated on Feb. 21, 2025, to reflect that one of the members involved was fired.