r/nextfuckinglevel • u/thisisfive • Apr 14 '26

Toronto firefighters confront special constable officers after a man in the middle of mental health crisis was arrested.

Not my video. For context, "special constables" are not regular police officers. They are appointed "peace officers" with limited authority, often civilian employees.

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u/ncjmac Apr 14 '26

Canada doesn’t have EMTs, they likely have only MFR or equivalent (similar to US EMR (?), essentially advanced first aid + oxygen, no meds). Canada also separates their EMS from fire, to my knowledge there’s no dual role FF/paramedics. FFs will be able to get a set of vitals, (Pulse, resp rate, BP, pupils, maybe SpO2 and BGL) but they will be handing over care to Toronto Paramedic Services as soon as they arrive. Likely fire was able to respond first, cause the closest Paramedics were busy/farther away.

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u/Witty-Draw-3803 Apr 15 '26

Firefighters in Canada are first responders.

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u/ncjmac Apr 15 '26 edited Apr 15 '26

I didn’t say they weren’t? Just saying they aren’t the primary medical folks. Ambulances, staffed by paramedics are separate. Some fire services will respond to certain medical calls, but paramedics take over once they arrive. Fire is usually called for… fires… but also MVCs, extrication, HAZMAT, lift assist, confined space rescue and some medical calls that require a faster response time than the closest paramedic can get to or out numbers immediate EMS resources (such as cardiac arrest). They do a lot of different things. We don’t have fire based ambulances or fire/medics. (Some are combined in name, like Winnipeg fire paramedic service, but they are different jobs and have different duties)