VOLUSIA CO UNTY, Fla. — Volusia County firefighters are worried about how long you could be waiting to get to a hospital in an emergency.

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The county’s professional firefighters association said it has to do with ambulance staffing. But firefighters want to see the county act to fix this.

The firefighters association said this has been a problem for years, but it’s gotten a lot worse. They say they’ve tried to work with the county on solutions but in the meantime, it means some patients are waiting more than 30 minutes for an ambulance.

“We have just been seeing a significant increase in ambulances not being staffed,” said Jeremy Karaginis, president of the Volusia County Professional Firefighters Association. “If you’re on the beach with a drowning victim. You don’t want to wait 30 minutes to get them to the hospital.”

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Karagnis said firefighters can provide treatment at the scene, but definitive and often lifesaving care happens at the hospital and ambulances staffed by county EMS are in short supply.

“Due to turnover, sick calls or just these guys working to the bone, they can’t staff these ambulances,” he said.

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Karagnis said it’s been a problem for years, but has gotten worse in the last few months.

He wants to see Volusia County shift gears and explore a system used in other local counties where dual certified firefighters staff ambulances instead of paramedics in a separate EMS system.

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