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Page 6 of 6  ·  Part 2 of 2 — In their own words

Independent analysis — not affiliated with or endorsed by the City of St. Louis, STLFD, IAFF Local 73, or the Division of EMS. All quotes sourced from published news reporting cited below. Quotes are paraphrased where noted; do not treat as verbatim transcripts.

A decade of documented neglect · 2013 – 2024

They did
nothing.

City officials, union representatives, and field paramedics all said the same thing in public — for more than a decade. The record is not ambiguous. Here it is, in their own words.

What they said — in their own words

Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson · 2022

"Every year that I've served as chief, I have asked for one of the report's recommendations — a minimum of six additional ambulances. We haven't been able to convince anybody."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch / EMS1, July 2022

Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson · 2021

"When you ride a medic unit and work a 12-hour shift and you're handling 12, 15, sometimes 20 calls in that 12-hour shift? Way too much."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch / EMS1, July 2022 (reflecting on COVID period)

IAFF Local 73 Vice President Melissa Rieger · 2013

"Seconds count in heart attacks and strokes. I don't personally know anybody that has died — yet. It would not surprise me at all if there were cases where people had permanent long-term damage due to not getting help immediately."

EMS1 / Local TV I-Team investigation, 2013

Paramedic · South City Hospital · 2021

"You call 9-1-1 and you expect to get an ambulance. In St. Louis City, they're waiting hours for ambulances. If they're not a priority call, sometimes we'll have police officers bring patients in and drop them off."

Republic-Times, December 2021

The pattern — eleven years of the same cycle

2014

ICMA study published

Add 6 ambulances. Document NUA. EMS demand far exceeds fire suppression load.

10+

years of budget proposals for more units

Chief Jenkerson requested additional ambulances in budget proposals every year of his tenure. None were funded.

200+

NUA events in one month · 2023

A decade after the first documented NUA investigation, the problem was larger — not resolved.

12

ambulances authorized · unchanged

The same number in 2013. The same number the ICMA said was insufficient in 2014. Still 12 in 2024.

This is not a story about a city that didn't know. The fire chief asked for more ambulances every year. An independent consultant documented the problem in 2014. Reporters documented patient deaths and NUA events in 2022 and 2023. Union paramedics warned publicly in 2013 that someone would eventually be harmed.

This is a story about a city that knew — and chose, year after year, budget after budget, to keep 12 trucks. That is not a resource problem. That is a political choice with a documented body of evidence behind it.
The ICMA report identified the fix more than a decade ago. Adding 6 ambulances was estimated at roughly $1 million — a fraction of the $4.9 million in EMS revenue the city now loses annually through private diversion. The city has spent more managing the consequences of inaction than the action itself would have cost. Every year of delay is a compounding policy failure on the record.

Sources: EMS1 / I-Team investigation (2013) · ICMA independent EMS assessment of STLFD (2014, referenced in St. Louis Post-Dispatch and EMS1 reporting) · KSDK News (October 2020) · Republic-Times, "Labor Shortage Affects EMS" (December 2021) · Fox 2, COVID surge ambulance wait times (January 2022) · St. Louis Post-Dispatch / EMS1, "Problems with St. Louis EMS were called out 8 years ago. The city did nothing." (July 2022) · Fox 2, "St. Louis had no ambulances available 200+ times last month" (September 2023) · STLFD FY24 Annual Report · FY24 AOP.

Note on quotes: All quotes attributed to named individuals are drawn from published news reporting. Where paraphrased, context is preserved. This document does not claim to reproduce verbatim transcripts. Independent analysis — not affiliated with the City of St. Louis, STLFD, IAFF Local 73, or the Division of EMS.