Comments

1

Jasmyne: I think you meant Morricone's influence "could not be overstated". To say it could not be understated means it is nonexistent.

2

@1 Thank you for your kindness!! fixing now

4

@Andrew Lewis - when someone in Seattle has a stroke, the fire department is called. The fire department assesses and treats and then calls a private ambulance for transport if the patient is stable.

I agree with his premise - send the appropriate resources to mitigate a situation.

5

Filling seats at a baseball stadium with stuffed animals is cute and all, but I'd prefer to mingle with the inflatable sex dolls who attended a pandemic era South Korean soccer match.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/20/south-korean-soccer-team-fined-for-filling-empty-stands-with-sex-dolls/

6

Is that Electoral College ruling retroactive to, say, 2016?

7

How come the Stranger isn't reporting about the two youths shot by CHOP security?

8

@7 They reported the story, in detail. They did not include any histrionic internet speculation about the identity of the shooter or shooters.

If any evidence good enough to result in arrest emerges, you can be sure they'll report on that when it happens.

Until then, you'll have to just keep going back to Twitter when you need your fix of brain-poison.

9

The City of Bellevue is delighted with this new Seattle tax and welcomes all highly-paid corporate headquarters employees to its local-income-tax-free environment.

10

"Wear a mask" - Okay, provide me a mask or two and pay me my UI so I can buy some of my own that fit me better.

Also, @ 4, why does it have to be the fire dept that responds to falls, accidents, inebriation, etc? The trucks are big and annoying and clog the street. Yes, they're necessary and I'm glad we have them, but only send them when there's actually a fire. Thank you!

/end rant

11

7 dear, it’s called “news” for a reason. The shooting happened several days ago, and as Our Dear Robotslave pointed out, The Stranger covered it at the time - you know, when it was news.

Swiftress dear, I don’t think you need to worry your sweet grey-haired head over that. According to the Times.....

“ Businesses with at least $7 million in annual payroll will be taxed 0.7% to 2.4% on salaries and wages spent on Seattle employees who make at least $150,000 per year, with tiers for various payroll and salary amounts. For example, a company with an $8 million payroll and one employee making $180,000 would pay a tax of 0.7% on $180,000 — or $1,260.”

Companies spend more on plants for the lobby than that. In any event, if the jobs move to Bellevue, the economic activity is still in the region. Besides, I wouldn’t count on Bellevue remaining the tax-free utopia you hold so dear for if I were you.

14

@10 I'll start with the TL;DR: budget and risk to lives and property.

For context, there are 32 fire stations (usually 33 but the Northgate station is closed and the units relocated to neighboring stations) containing 32 fire engines (our 2018 annual report has a typo), 12 ladder trucks, 7 aid cars (BLS ambulances that don't generally transport, 5 rigs staffed 24 hours/day and 2 staffed 12 hours/day), 8 paramedic units. These numbers include an extra ladder truck and medic unit that were recently added to West Seattle in the aftermath of the WS Bridge closure to maintain quick response to WS. This omits command/support/specialty units. All SFD members (except chiefs) must have an EMT-D certification and all the paramedics have EMT-P certs.

In order to provide the quickest response ("time is tissue"), the Seattle Fire Department responds to medical emergencies using the "tiered response system." What this entails is the FAC (SFD 911 call center) asks questions of the 911 caller and sends the closest appropriate SFD unit(s). If it's a medical call and the closest unit is an aid car (ambulance), that is sent. All the 24 hour/day staffed aid cars are within or close to downtown (where most of the people and responses are). If no aid car is available or close, the closest fire engine is sent. If no nearby fire engine is available, the closest ladder truck is sent. It's the goal (90%) of SFD to dispatch units within 60 seconds of answering the 911 call and to be at the scene within 4 minutes. We are generally in the mid 70s to mid 80s (see our annual report for details).

https://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/Fire/About/2018_Annual%20Report_FINAL.pdf

Ideally, this means SFD is on scene within 5 minutes from the 911 call being placed. In the case of heart attacks, brain tissue death will start to occur, absent intervention, after about 6 minutes. Seattle has the best CPR resuscitation rate (confirmed heart attack to hospital discharge) IN. THE. WORLD. by quite a large margin. The EMS response model used here is a very large contributor to that success rate. Medical experts from all around the globe regularly come to Seattle to observe and learn from our EMS system. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

https://www.sca-aware.org/sca-news/king-county-wa-has-worlds-highest-survival-rate-for-cardiac-arrest

It costs about $1M/year to staff an SFD aid car (ambulance) full time (24 hours/day). The ones in the SFD have dedicated staffing versus other departments where they might "float" between the ambulance and a fire engine or ladder truck. The "float" model saves money for staffing but renders the engine or truck ineffective for fire response. The aid cars don't usually transport to hospitals because they would have to stay out of service transporting in traffic (Ambulances in Seattle don't transport to the hospital with lights and siren. If you see an ambulance with lights and siren operating, it's responding to the emergency scene.), waiting at the ED (sometimes 20 minutes or more) to hand off the patient to the staff there. and then decontaminating their apparatus (particularly in the times in which we find ourselves). We keep them available for response. Making the fire engine or ladder truck respond with only 2 people (usually staffed with 4) could mean that SFD entry into a fire building could be easily delayed 4 minutes or more (waiting for the next closest fire unit to arrive) as state law dictates that for 2 firefighters to enter a fire, there must be at least 1 firefighter outside to help them if they get in trouble (the 1 FF is an exception for a "known" rescue, 2 FFs outside is the actual rule). A typical room in a modern house could flash over (every item in the room reaches its ignition temperature) in as few as 5 minutes rendering that space unsurvivable (1000+ degrees F everywhere in that room) and imperiling the rest of the structure and the inhabitants.

https://legacy.draeger.com/r_assets/forms/Segments/US/Fire-Services/Flash%20Over/flashover-wp-9045484-us.pdf

It all comes down to quick response for EMS and fires to save lives and property. Having more dedicated staffing aid cars would cost a lot more for staffing/maintenance and there are many stations that simply don't have the room to house the ambulance or extra personnel. Floating personnel increases the risk for loss of life and property at fires.

Having private ambulances respond as the primary would mean everyone calling 911 for EMS would be billed (a lot, like $1000+). No one currently gets a bill for extra-hospital EMS services unless a private ambulance transport is involved. SFD EMS services are funded fully through taxes and levies. Also, SFD units sometimes have to wait 10-20 minutes or more for a private ambulance transport to arrive after we call them directly. Reducing these response times appreciably for primary response would necessitate many more private ambulances in service hanging out in supermarket parking lots waiting to respond - more money.

SFD recently put a new unit, Health One, into service in Pioneer Square that responds to the downtown core and nearby for less emergent calls (e.g. alcohol inebriation). This is staffed 40 hours/week with 2 FF/EMTs and a social worker. However, even "inebriation" calls aren't always simple. These are often individuals who are members of vulnerable populations, medically fragile and have co-morbidities.

https://fireline.seattle.gov/2019/05/07/mayor-durkan-councilmember-bagshaw-and-fire-chief-scoggins-announce-seattles-new-health-one-pilot-program-to-address-non-emergency-911-calls-downtown/

16

@13 Why nothing in your comments about the surge in recognition of and opposition to racism in America? How much trouble would it be to acknowledge in every single whatabout comment you post that what feels like "truthtelling" to you somehow manages to come across as petrified reflexive racism to everyone you're addressing?

18

Why is the Stranger not reporting on the Habsburg policy of recatholicization and how it led to the Thirty Years' War?

19

@17 What, indeed? How is it that your "truthtelling" is so widely and consistently perceived as racist? Why can't anyone read your comments without seeing racism plainly writ in them? What on earth is going on here? How can this be happening?

22

@21 What what what?

What can it possibly be? What on earth could make your comments seem racist?

24

@23 Look at that, another "truth-telling" comment, somehow construed by everyone reading it as racist!

How is this possible? What could possibly explain it?

25

I think it’s cute when the trolls attempt moral outrage over racism.


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