When I was a firefighter in Tower Ladder 18 on Manhattans Lower East Side in the 1970s and early 1980s, TL. 18 was one of 25 FDNY "E.M.T. " Ladder Companies. At all times at least 2 E.M.T.s were scheduled to be on duty on every FDNY Tour in E.M.T. Ladder Companies. A few times we were special called to incidents to supply assistance to N.Y.C. E.M.S. "At that time NOT part of the F.D.N.Y.", at Mass Casuality Incidents. Also, if we were already at an incident and there were multiple patients, we were put to work assisting E.M.S.in transporting patients to waiting E.M.S. Ambulances or removing patients from dangerous areas where, at the time E.M.S. E.M.T.s and Paramedics were not trained or equipped to go.
Now F.D.N.Y/ E.M.S. has trained Rescue Medics to enter dangerous areas for stabilization and treatment of patients. At one time, I had a part time job as a Paramedic in the early 1970s and at one building collapse I started an I.V. line on a patient trapped in the collapsed building, while "On Duty in Tower Ladder 18" and got in trouble for doing it. Captain Bob Rainey FDNY Engine 26 retired