SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — A paramedic shortage has forced Springfield firefighters to step in and provide lifesaving care in the capital city.

Now, they’ll finally be compensated for that work, but union leaders are calling for a more permanent solution.

“They could get us an ambulance, but they didn’t have the provider on that ambulance,” Springfield Fire Chief Ed Canny, told Springfield City Council’s Committee of the Whole.

Since the fall of 2021, firefighters have often had to step in as the lead EMT on medical calls, due to staffing shortages among private ambulance providers in Springfield.

“Instead of us going to the house and our care ending at the house, our guys would then basically be the provider and get in the private ambulance and see that patient all the way through to definitive care,” Chief Canny explained.

Local 37 filed an Unfair Labor Practice complaint against the city for having to take on these extra duties. June 8th, the State Panel for the Labor Board affirmed an Administrative Law Judge’s ruling that the city had violated the act. So the city agreed to pay firefighter paramedics a retroactive 1% pay raise.

“We understand that amount of money doesn’t fix the problem, it doesn’t fix the lack of ambulances, it doesn’t fix the level of care of someone provides, Kainan Rinaberger, President of Local 37, told WAND News.

The city also agreed to form a Joint Committee with the fire union, to discuss long term solutions.

“Our taxpayers should not have to pay for our firefighters doing someone else’s job,” Alderman Shawn Gregory said.

Alderman are now calling on private ambulance companies to beef up staffing. But Local 37 is also now proposing the city launch its own ambulance service.

“We do have basically all of our people, that we currently employ, that can provide that care right now. We just don’t have the ambulances to do it,” Rinaberger explained.

The union believes there would be little cost to taxpayers, but a big pay off when it comes to emergency response times.

“The bigger solution is for the city is for us to supplement the companies that are already out there and provide more ambulances to cut down on wait times to provide the care the citizens of Springfield,” Rinaberger said.

The Springfield City Council voted to move the union settlement to the Debate Agenda next week, where it must be formally approved.

The deal is pending a council vote Wednesday. The council meeting is pushed back a day because of National Night Out Tuesday.