Albuquerque Fire Chief Emily Jaramillo is moving forward with her paramedic deployment plan, set to begin Aug. 23, and disputing union claims that firefighters have been shut out of the process.
The changes come after a months-long tension between the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 244 and Mayor Tim Keller’s administration over how the city’s 777 firefighters—including 212 paramedics—respond to more than 104,000 emergency calls each year across 189 square miles.
In her first in-depth interview since winning a key ruling from the Intragovernmental Conference Committee, Jaramillo pushed back on claims that firefighters were excluded from the process. She said more than 500 firefighters participated in three department-wide meetings, each lasting four hours, and that she revised the proposal twice based on their feedback…