Misuse of Emergency Services - Particularly Fire and EMS Essay

Misuse of Emergency Services - Particularly Fire and EMS - Essay Example This paper seeks to identify the reasons why people misuse emergency services, in this case the emergency medical services and fire emergency services. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) serves to provide emergency medical care to affected people. This is a system that is well coordinated, and includes response and emergency medical care, driven by different people and agencies. On the other hand, the fire and emergency services comprises highly trained personnel, who hold the responsibility of reducing loss of life and property, which is caused by fire, natural disasters, and terrorist attacks, among others. The personnel are trained in firefighting. These are also knowledgeable and competent in rescue techniques, and sometimes in emergency medical services, search and rescue, among other. There are various conditions that qualify use of emergency services. For instance, it is right to call emergency medical services when one’s life is in danger due to an illness. In addition, one may call emergency medical services when they are sick, and unable to transport themselves to hospital. Furthermore, in case of a traffic accident involving many casualties, one may call emergency medical services. On the other hand, emergency fire services are provided in cases involving fire. Although the cases where one might call emergency medical and fire services are clearly outlined, many people have continued to call these emergency services in irrelevant cases. Nonetheless, calling emergency services in cases where they do not apply is misusing emergency services. There are various reasons why people misuse emergency services. The major reason is that the emergency lines are toll free. This means that a person can call emergency services line without being charged. For this reason, many people call emergency services for nonsense reasons, since they know that it does not cost them anything.